The Ruling on Commodity Murabaha (Tawarruq)
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I have an office for installment sale services that pays a warehouse. The merchant buys the goods and offers them for sale on installment only. The office sells them to him and takes a fee for the contract and clearing the installments. The buyer takes the goods and sells them elsewhere. What is the ruling on this transaction?
Now we understand that we have a merchant who bought cars and deposited them with him. He sells on installment and has a broker who sells for him and collects the price from the buyers. Up to this point, it is permissible and there is no problem with it.We remain with this one who bought, you say: He sold them in order to take the money.
This man who bought the goods for the sake of their price is called tawarruq (a commodity sale used to obtain cash) by the scholars. Some of them permitted it, and some of them prohibited it.
Those who prohibited it said: It is a ruse, because he did not buy the car, for example, wanting the car, but wanting the money.And the others say: That is not our concern. He bought the car and his aim is something else; that is not our concern. Whether he wants to sell it, or hoard it for himself, or work with it for a fee, or take it to another country where it is worth more, that is not our concern. So there is scholarly disagreement in this matter. Whoever wants to be scrupulous should leave it, and whoever wants to be lenient should follow the other scholars.
But the prohibited, forbidden thing that is similar to the practice of the Jews is: these people to whom one who wants a car comes and says: Go to the showroom and choose the car you want, and I will buy it from the showroom and pay them the price, and I will sell it to you on installment for more. There is no doubt that this is forbidden.And do not be deceived by the fatwa of one who said: It is lawful, because nothing is hidden from Allah on earth or in the sky.What is the difference between the merchant giving you money and saying: Take this value of the car, buy it, but this money is deferred to you for more. This is forbidden and there is no problem with it. The difference between this and the first form is that the first is a ruse and this is explicit. The ruse is more sinful than the explicit one.Because, as Ayub al-Sakhtiyani (may Allah have mercy on him) said: They deceive Allah just as they deceive children. If they had done the matter in its proper way, it would have been easier.
Now we understand that we have a merchant who bought cars and deposited them with him. He sells on installment and has a broker who sells for him and collects the price from the buyers. Up to this point, it is permissible and there is no problem with it.We remain with this one who bought, you say: He sold them in order to take the money.
This man who bought the goods for the sake of their price is called tawarruq (a commodity sale used to obtain cash) by the scholars. Some of them permitted it, and some of them prohibited it.
Those who prohibited it said: It is a ruse, because he did not buy the car, for example, wanting the car, but wanting the money.And the others say: That is not our concern. He bought the car and his aim is something else; that is not our concern. Whether he wants to sell it, or hoard it for himself, or work with it for a fee, or take it to another country where it is worth more, that is not our concern. So there is scholarly disagreement in this matter. Whoever wants to be scrupulous should leave it, and whoever wants to be lenient should follow the other scholars.
But the prohibited, forbidden thing that is similar to the practice of the Jews is: these people to whom one who wants a car comes and says: Go to the showroom and choose the car you want, and I will buy it from the showroom and pay them the price, and I will sell it to you on installment for more. There is no doubt that this is forbidden.And do not be deceived by the fatwa of one who said: It is lawful, because nothing is hidden from Allah on earth or in the sky.What is the difference between the merchant giving you money and saying: Take this value of the car, buy it, but this money is deferred to you for more. This is forbidden and there is no problem with it. The difference between this and the first form is that the first is a ruse and this is explicit. The ruse is more sinful than the explicit one.Because, as Ayub al-Sakhtiyani (may Allah have mercy on him) said: They deceive Allah just as they deceive children. If they had done the matter in its proper way, it would have been easier.