Continuation of the discussion on the ruling of installment sales, and the exhortation to help the poor

The Shaykh : The Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) ruled that this increase in exchange for the delay is riba. Therefore, the claim that the operative cause is ignorance is false, because the hadith makes the operative cause riba. Some say that the two sales here did not actually take place, so we are free from contradicting the hadith in form, but the operative cause, which is the riba-based cause, still remains, even if it is in the form of a single sale. This is from the perspective of the text. Now, from the perspective of understanding the general dealings of Muslims with one another, the dealings of wealthy Muslims with poor Muslims, and the dealings of wealthy Muslims with those of moderate means among Muslims: does this dealing, in which one takes an increase in exchange for the Muslim brother’s patience in fulfilling the payment, align with Islamic character and Islamic morals? The answer is no. The Muslim was created in this life to worship Allah (Mighty and Majestic), as we all know. The minds, ideas, and beliefs of the disbelievers are empty of this worshipful meaning. So the Muslim, in every aspect of his life, worships Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He), whether in doing what He commanded or in avoiding what He forbade. Now, these merchants: Allah has made this means easy for them, the means of trade and earning money through lawful ways. They could have been like those wealthy people in the time of the Messenger (peace be upon him) when the poor came complaining about the situation of those wealthy people, saying: “O Messenger of Allah, the people of wealth have taken away the rewards. They pray as we pray, they fast as we fast, they perform Hajj as we perform Hajj, and they give charity while we do not give charity.” He said: The poor messenger rejoiced when he heard this good news, which, as you know, is thirty-three times after the prayer. This poor messenger went and conveyed to the poor what he had heard from the Messenger (peace be upon him). Then it was not long before their messenger returned to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) to say: “O Messenger of Allah, the wealthy hardly heard what I told them but they did the same as we did.” He (peace and blessings be upon him) said: The favor of Allah for the wealthy. I say that these wealthy people who exploit the needs of the needy and increase the price for them—this is an opportunity the wealthy person encounters perhaps many times a day. The Messenger (peace be upon him) urged not to take an increase in exchange for the delay, saying: A man who lends his Muslim brother two dirhams, two hundred, or two thousand, is as if he gave charity from his pocket, where this charity does not return to his pocket again, with half of what he gave as charity. So in our previous example, cash for one hundred and installment for ten plus ten, if he sold it for one hundred on installment, it is as if he gave fifty dinars in charity. So reflect: if the wealthy were truly Muslims, how would they be? They would be among those whom the poor envy, to whom the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) replied with his saying: So, first, adding this increase is a purely Western materialistic method that Muslims did not know before. Second, it accustoms wealthy Muslims to competing for material things and not volunteering to help the Muslim brother, even by lending, knowing that he profits half of what he would have if he had lent to the Muslim, so half of what he lent is considered charity for the sake of Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He). For all these reasons, we believe that the Muslim merchant must never take an increase in exchange for installments. And I believe that if Muslims had followed this straight path, the pleasure of Allah (Mighty and Majestic) would have surrounded them from every side. We have reached a time when we consider open riba permissible, let alone this riba which some of the early Muslims said was permissible, because, as I mentioned to you earlier, either the hadith did not reach them in the first place, or it reached them with a chain that did not constitute proof for them. If the matter has reached the point of considering open riba permissible through some fatwas that are issued—and you must have heard a lot of them from Egypt—what will be the state of the Muslim society that has established in the modern era banks with the title “Islamic Bank,” in accordance with his (peace and blessings be upon him) saying: This is also the answer to what you asked.

The questioner : May Allah reward you with good.

The Shaykh : And beware of that.