Explanation of the hadith (When you trade with one another using 'inah), clarifying the meaning of 'inah sales and their form, and clarifying the reality of Muslims today regarding trading with 'inah.

The Shaykh : First, he (peace and blessings be upon him) said: . 'Inah is a type of sale that is forbidden in Islam. The reason for this prohibition is that both parties in this sale are only scheming to make permissible what Allah has forbidden, namely riba. Some of you may ask, what is this sale, the sale of 'inah, and is it a reality today? We say yes, but while many of you know this sale as a reality, you may not know its legal name, the sale of 'inah. What is this sale? A man comes to a merchant wanting to buy a need from him in appearance, but in reality, he only wants to borrow a loan from him in exchange for riba. This riba, which they call today by a name other than its own, they call it "interest" to soften the crime of this calamity, riba. They call riba "interest" today, and naming riba as interest is another crime; because in that there is a softening of the impact of this name on the hearts of Muslims. In this sale, a man pretends that he wants to buy a car, for example, for one hundred thousand, more or less, the price does not matter to us. So he and the merchant negotiate a price for a term. Here is the point, and here is the calamity. They agree on the price and record this price. Let us assume, as we said, one hundred. Soon the buyer becomes the seller and the seller becomes the buyer, because the buyer, as we said, does not want to buy goods like a car, for example, but wants dirhams and dinars. So he returns and says to the seller, "Will you buy this car from me for cash?" It is understood from him that he wants money. So he buys this car that was recorded in his name, for example, for one hundred, and pays him eighty. He takes the eighty, and one hundred was recorded in his name. The twenty is open riba, but they called it by a name other than its own. They called it what? The sale of 'inah, or rather, they called it a sale, but the Wise Lawgiver called it the sale of 'inah, indicating that the same thing, in the same session, itself and its very essence, is sold and bought in this session before the goods are moved to the place of the buyer, or even before they move from their place. Is this a sale? No, rather they schemed under the name of sale to make riba permissible. What is here in the example is twenty dirhams. This is scheming against what Allah has forbidden. Many Muslims do this forbidden sale today, just as the Jews did in the past, and who have been empowered over us recently by what we have acquired by imitating the Jews who used to make permissible what Allah had forbidden with the slightest of schemes. None of you is ignorant of their story on the day of the Sabbath, when they were scheming to catch fish on the day of the Sabbath, on which work was forbidden for them, so Allah cursed them for that. But there are many types of forbidden things in which the Jews schemed to make permissible what Allah had forbidden, and some of you, or many of you, may not know anything about them. So now I remind you with one example so that we take a lesson from it and know that today, while we call ourselves Muslims and believe in Allah as Lord and in Muhammad as Prophet and Messenger, nevertheless we contradict Allah and His Messenger by scheming to make permissible what Allah and His Messenger have forbidden, exactly as the Jews did. What did the Jews do? He (peace and blessings be upon him) said: , Why? . This is stated in the Noble Qur'an that Allah (Mighty and Majestic) forbade the Jews some good things because of their oppression, their transgression, and their killing of the prophets without right, as He (Mighty and Majestic) said: . Among these good things that Allah forbade them is the fat of the animal. They slaughter it while it is fatty, a well-fed animal, well-nourished. They are commanded by the Shari'ah to take the fat and throw it on the ground and not benefit from it in any way at all, and only the red meat was made permissible for them. So the Jews did not have patience with the ruling of Allah, and soon they resorted to twisting and turning, to scheming against this forbidden matter. What did they do? They took the forbidden fat, eating it is forbidden and selling it is forbidden, and they put it in large pots and lit a fire underneath it until it melted and flowed and took a form other than the natural form it had on the animal. So the form changed here, and Satan inspired them that this fat, because its form changed, its ruling changed because of that; it was forbidden, so it became permissible. This is one of the schemes of the Jews and one of Satan's deceptions with the Jews, or rather one of the Jews' deceptions with themselves. They know the truth of the matter that this fat, whether they left it as Allah (Mighty and Majestic) created it or melted it with their work, it remains fat, and consequently it remains forbidden for them. But they want to make permissible what Allah has forbidden with the slightest of schemes. When they melted this fat, they sold it and benefited from its price. The Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) says in the completion of the hadith: . This is a type of the schemes of the Jews. Have we followed their path, as he (peace and blessings be upon him) said, warning us and cautioning us not to follow the path of those before us? In the authentic hadith: . They said: O Messenger of Allah, who are these Jews and Christians? He said: ; meaning, there were no people in that time famous for being People of the Book, and people of culture, and people of religion and morals, except the Jews and the Christians. So the Messenger (may Allah's prayers and peace be upon him) warned us not to follow the path of the Jews and the Christians. Have we taken a lesson? Have we benefited from the warning of the Messenger (peace be upon him) to us? The answer is no, and the evidence for that is abundant. So the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) came with an example of this type of scheming against what Allah has forbidden, which is the sale of 'inah. So riba is forbidden in the Shari'ah of Islam, and perhaps in all religions.