Ruling on purchasing cars on installment through interest-based banks
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Some interest-based banks run a car installment program for employees of certain government departments. They require the employee to transfer his salary to the bank, or to endorse the check for delivery to the bank, to secure their rights. After that, the employee has the right to dispose of his salary. What is the ruling?The Shaykh: But what is the nature of the sale that takes place with these people?The questioner: They own cars.
The Shaykh: The cars are with them?The questioner: Yes, in a showroom they say is affiliated with them.
The Shaykh: There is nothing wrong with that,For example, he says: Buy a car from the showroom for fifty thousand cash and seventy thousand on credit, for example, but we want to pledge the salary so that it is transferred to us in order to deduct the installment?The questioner: Yes.
The Shaykh: I say: This is permissible and there is nothing wrong with it.
The questioner: Would it not be assisting them in sin?The Shaykh: If you do not want to assist them, do not buy from them at all.
The questioner: But the ruling is that it is permissible.
The Shaykh: The ruling is permissible. The Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) dealt with the Jews before their guidance, selling to them and buying from them.
The questioner: Riba is for Muslims, meaning is the Jew a disbeliever or a Muslim?The Shaykh: Interest is forbidden for the Muslim and the non-Muslim.
The questioner: But we say: The disbeliever has no sin.
The Shaykh: Rather, he is held accountable.
The questioner: But is he punished?The Shaykh: He is punished, not only for the forbidden, but he is punished even for the clothes he wears and the food he eats.Have you not heard your Lord say: [Al-Ma'idah: 93] And those who did not believe and did not do righteous deeds, is there a sin upon them or not? There is a sin upon them.
Have you not heard your Lord say: [Al-A'raf: 32] And for those who did not believe, it is not for them in this world; it is forbidden to them, and it is not pure for them on the Day of Resurrection; they will be recompensed for it.
Now, do not think that a disbeliever drinks a sip without being held accountable and punished for it, or eats a bite of food without being held accountable for it.
The questioner: As for the banks, they do not own the cars.They say: Go to the showroom and bring the price of the car?The Shaykh: This is not permissible; this is forbidden.For example: A person comes to a bank trader or someone else,He says: saying, "I want a car and I have no money." He says, "Go look at the showroom you want and give it to me, and I will buy it from the showroom and then sell it to you." This is forbidden.And this is more severe than him saying: Take this fifty thousand riyals for sixty thousand, because if he gives him fifty thousand riyals, he buys the car for sixty thousand over a year. Is this clear riba or not? Yes.
And when he said: Go choose the car and I will buy it and sell it to you? This is a ruse and deception. And committing a sin with deception is more severe than committing it openly for two reasons: The first reason is that this deceiver—may Allah protect us from that—is like one who mocks the verses of Allah, as if Allah does not see his intention.
The second factor: As long as he believes that this is lawful, he will continue with it. But the one who does it openly does so while being ashamed of Allah and feeling shy before Allah, expecting that the first hour will come when Allah grants him repentance.
And I give you an example of something greater than this.Which is the greater sin: A disbeliever declares disbelief or a hypocrite? The hypocrite is greater, because the hypocrite is a disbeliever and a deceiver, while the disbeliever is open.
So these are the ones who say: Go choose the car and we will buy it and sell it to you. Satan dictated to them a word by which they were deluded.They said: If the one who wants to buy it and then sell it, if the man left the purchase after the trader or the bank bought it, as the questioner asked, leaving the purchase, then he is not bound by it.They said: If he is not bound by it, it means it did not become a sale with possession.So we say: Actions are by intentions. And when would a person leave the purchase? The man chose the car; he was the one who proposed it. He wants to leave what he is not leaving. And the word "if he left" does not contradict us; it is not correct, because we heard that his name is written on the blacklist, meaning that if he wants a second transaction, he will not be dealt with.
In any case, the important thing is that I hope you will spread among the people that this is a forbidden transaction, and falling into riba, and falling into deception.
The Shaykh: The cars are with them?The questioner: Yes, in a showroom they say is affiliated with them.
The Shaykh: There is nothing wrong with that,For example, he says: Buy a car from the showroom for fifty thousand cash and seventy thousand on credit, for example, but we want to pledge the salary so that it is transferred to us in order to deduct the installment?The questioner: Yes.
The Shaykh: I say: This is permissible and there is nothing wrong with it.
The questioner: Would it not be assisting them in sin?The Shaykh: If you do not want to assist them, do not buy from them at all.
The questioner: But the ruling is that it is permissible.
The Shaykh: The ruling is permissible. The Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) dealt with the Jews before their guidance, selling to them and buying from them.
The questioner: Riba is for Muslims, meaning is the Jew a disbeliever or a Muslim?The Shaykh: Interest is forbidden for the Muslim and the non-Muslim.
The questioner: But we say: The disbeliever has no sin.
The Shaykh: Rather, he is held accountable.
The questioner: But is he punished?The Shaykh: He is punished, not only for the forbidden, but he is punished even for the clothes he wears and the food he eats.Have you not heard your Lord say:
There is not upon those who believe and do righteousness [any] blame concerning what they have eaten
لَيْسَ عَلَى الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا وَعَمِلُوا الصَّالِحَاتِ جُنَاحٌ فِيمَا طَعِمُواHave you not heard your Lord say:
Say, "Who has forbidden the adornment of Allah which He has produced for His servants and the good [lawful] things of provision?" Say, "They are for those who believe during the worldly life [but] exclusively for them on the Day of Resurrection."
قُلْ مَنْ حَرَّمَ زِينَةَ اللَّهِ الَّتِي أَخْرَجَ لِعِبَادِهِ وَالطَّيِّبَاتِ مِنَ الرِّزْقِ قُلْ هِيَ لِلَّذِينَ آمَنُوا فِي الْحَيَاةِ الدُّنْيَا خَالِصَةً يَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِNow, do not think that a disbeliever drinks a sip without being held accountable and punished for it, or eats a bite of food without being held accountable for it.
The questioner: As for the banks, they do not own the cars.They say: Go to the showroom and bring the price of the car?The Shaykh: This is not permissible; this is forbidden.For example: A person comes to a bank trader or someone else,He says: saying, "I want a car and I have no money." He says, "Go look at the showroom you want and give it to me, and I will buy it from the showroom and then sell it to you." This is forbidden.And this is more severe than him saying: Take this fifty thousand riyals for sixty thousand, because if he gives him fifty thousand riyals, he buys the car for sixty thousand over a year. Is this clear riba or not? Yes.
And when he said: Go choose the car and I will buy it and sell it to you? This is a ruse and deception. And committing a sin with deception is more severe than committing it openly for two reasons: The first reason is that this deceiver—may Allah protect us from that—is like one who mocks the verses of Allah, as if Allah does not see his intention.
The second factor: As long as he believes that this is lawful, he will continue with it. But the one who does it openly does so while being ashamed of Allah and feeling shy before Allah, expecting that the first hour will come when Allah grants him repentance.
And I give you an example of something greater than this.Which is the greater sin: A disbeliever declares disbelief or a hypocrite? The hypocrite is greater, because the hypocrite is a disbeliever and a deceiver, while the disbeliever is open.
So these are the ones who say: Go choose the car and we will buy it and sell it to you. Satan dictated to them a word by which they were deluded.They said: If the one who wants to buy it and then sell it, if the man left the purchase after the trader or the bank bought it, as the questioner asked, leaving the purchase, then he is not bound by it.They said: If he is not bound by it, it means it did not become a sale with possession.So we say: Actions are by intentions. And when would a person leave the purchase? The man chose the car; he was the one who proposed it. He wants to leave what he is not leaving. And the word "if he left" does not contradict us; it is not correct, because we heard that his name is written on the blacklist, meaning that if he wants a second transaction, he will not be dealt with.
In any case, the important thing is that I hope you will spread among the people that this is a forbidden transaction, and falling into riba, and falling into deception.