What is the ruling if a person buys an item for twenty riyals and gives the seller more than this amount, so the seller tells the buyer, “What is left for you, come and take it”?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner : He says: What is the ruling if a buyer comes and buys an item for twenty riyals and gives the seller more than this amount, so the seller then tells the buyer, “What is left for you, come and take it from me tomorrow”? This happens to us students often; for example, we buy a lunch meal for two riyals and give the seller five riyals, and he says, “When you are finished, come and take the rest.” I ask for clarification on this issue, as I have heard that it is riba. Is this correct? What is the operative cause? And how is the solution in this case?
The Shaykh : There is no riba in this case. Riba occurs if you say, “Exchange a fifty-riyal note for me,” and he says, “I only have twenty-five; take twenty-five and come back to me for the rest later.” That is what constitutes riba. However, if you buy a need with dirhams, for example, you buy a need for twenty and you only have a fifty-riyal note, then you give this man the note and say, “This note is with you; you have twenty from it, and tomorrow I will come to you and we will make a new contract for the remaining dirhams,” then there is no harm in that. The prohibited thing is to deal in currency exchange without taking possession. But if you give him more than his right, and the excess is with him in the position of a trust, and you come tomorrow or the day after and say, “I will exchange this with you,” then there is no harm in that. Yes.
The Shaykh : There is no riba in this case. Riba occurs if you say, “Exchange a fifty-riyal note for me,” and he says, “I only have twenty-five; take twenty-five and come back to me for the rest later.” That is what constitutes riba. However, if you buy a need with dirhams, for example, you buy a need for twenty and you only have a fifty-riyal note, then you give this man the note and say, “This note is with you; you have twenty from it, and tomorrow I will come to you and we will make a new contract for the remaining dirhams,” then there is no harm in that. The prohibited thing is to deal in currency exchange without taking possession. But if you give him more than his right, and the excess is with him in the position of a trust, and you come tomorrow or the day after and say, “I will exchange this with you,” then there is no harm in that. Yes.