Ruling on selling an item for a price higher than its original price when deferred
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A merchant buys a car from a person for two and a half million pounds via a deferred check for six months, or four million Sudanese pounds for one year, and then sells the car in that same assembly for one and a half million Sudanese pounds. What is the ruling on this sale? And does zakah become obligatory on the deferred check when a lunar year has passed, given that the document is still in the possession of the first seller?And he says, note: It is known that the actual market value of the car is one and a half million.
There is nothing wrong with a person buying a car or other item for a lower cash price than if he were to buy it for a deferred price.For example, he says: I buy this car for ten thousand in cash, or for twelve thousand deferred for one year, and then they agree on one of the two prices before parting ways. This is permissible and is not a case of two sales in one sale, as some scholars thought. Rather, this is giving the man a choice between this sale or that sale, and they will not leave their place until they have specified it, either the deferred or the immediate. As for converting the price via a check, there is nothing wrong with that either; because selling the car for dirhams does not involve riba (usury or interest).
As for the buyer selling the car for a lower price in order to receive the price in cash, this is called by the scholars the issue of tawarruq (a commodity sale used to obtain cash). If he sells it to someone other than the one he bought it from, and if he sells it to the one he bought it from, it is the issue of 'inah (a buy-back sale used to disguise a loan). So the owner of the car bought it from Zayd for twelve thousand deferred for one year, then sold it to 'Umar for ten thousand in cash; this is tawarruq. If he sold it to Zayd, the one he first bought it from, for ten thousand, this is the issue of 'inah. The scholars (may Allah have mercy on them) differed on the issue of tawarruq: is it lawful or forbidden?So some scholars chose: It is lawful if a person needs cash, meaning the price. Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah chose that it is forbidden and that it is a form of 'inah which the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) forbade. The precaution is not to do it.It is said: If you need dirhams and you find someone to lend them to you, that is what is sought.And if you do not find it, you must resort to salam (a forward sale paid in advance), meaning: Taking dirhams for a deferred commodity, describing it and specifying its attributes by saying, for example, "Give me ten thousand riyals and I will give you a car after one year with such and such attributes," and specifying it by its attributes, this is permissible because the Companions did it when the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) arrived in Madinah and they were making forward sales in fruits for one or two years. He said: "Whoever makes a forward sale in something, let him make it in a known measure and a known weight for a known term".
The questioner: Does zakah become obligatory on the deferred check when a lunar year has passed, given that the document is still in his hand, meaning it is for a period of one year?The Shaykh: The deferred check, meaning the check written for a person for a deferred price, if he speaks to the bank owner and he says, "Yes, I have this," it becomes like a debt on which zakah is obligatory.
There is nothing wrong with a person buying a car or other item for a lower cash price than if he were to buy it for a deferred price.For example, he says: I buy this car for ten thousand in cash, or for twelve thousand deferred for one year, and then they agree on one of the two prices before parting ways. This is permissible and is not a case of two sales in one sale, as some scholars thought. Rather, this is giving the man a choice between this sale or that sale, and they will not leave their place until they have specified it, either the deferred or the immediate. As for converting the price via a check, there is nothing wrong with that either; because selling the car for dirhams does not involve riba (usury or interest).
As for the buyer selling the car for a lower price in order to receive the price in cash, this is called by the scholars the issue of tawarruq (a commodity sale used to obtain cash). If he sells it to someone other than the one he bought it from, and if he sells it to the one he bought it from, it is the issue of 'inah (a buy-back sale used to disguise a loan). So the owner of the car bought it from Zayd for twelve thousand deferred for one year, then sold it to 'Umar for ten thousand in cash; this is tawarruq. If he sold it to Zayd, the one he first bought it from, for ten thousand, this is the issue of 'inah. The scholars (may Allah have mercy on them) differed on the issue of tawarruq: is it lawful or forbidden?So some scholars chose: It is lawful if a person needs cash, meaning the price. Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah chose that it is forbidden and that it is a form of 'inah which the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) forbade. The precaution is not to do it.It is said: If you need dirhams and you find someone to lend them to you, that is what is sought.And if you do not find it, you must resort to salam (a forward sale paid in advance), meaning: Taking dirhams for a deferred commodity, describing it and specifying its attributes by saying, for example, "Give me ten thousand riyals and I will give you a car after one year with such and such attributes," and specifying it by its attributes, this is permissible because the Companions did it when the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) arrived in Madinah and they were making forward sales in fruits for one or two years. He said: "Whoever makes a forward sale in something, let him make it in a known measure and a known weight for a known term".
The questioner: Does zakah become obligatory on the deferred check when a lunar year has passed, given that the document is still in his hand, meaning it is for a period of one year?The Shaykh: The deferred check, meaning the check written for a person for a deferred price, if he speaks to the bank owner and he says, "Yes, I have this," it becomes like a debt on which zakah is obligatory.