We request clarification on the correct method of buying and selling in Islam. (And the discussion is about installment sales)

The questioner : We want to know how to sell and buy in Islam, briefly?

The Shaykh : This is an answer that cannot be summarized...

The questioner : As much as possible... what do we do.

The Shaykh : How do you sell and buy.

The questioner : Frankly, we are sellers and buyers, and every day we face the problem of installment sales; we need a solution.

Another questioner : Shaykh, if someone wants heaters.

The questioner : I don’t want advertising, may Allah make you happy.

The Shaykh : ...

The questioner : It is modest and blessed.

Another questioner : Solar water heaters.

The questioner : So we want to find a solution to this problem, we do.

The Shaykh : If you had specified it.

The questioner : We face this problem daily, Shaykh.

The Shaykh : If you had specified, may Allah bless you, the type of sale you are engaged in, if you had specified.

The questioner : We sell and buy, meaning we buy iron in its various forms and sell it, meaning manufactured solar heaters, tanks, and the like. We need the solution in terms of the method of sale. Every day we encounter people who buy in cash and people who buy on installment. How do we sell?

The Shaykh : No, if this is the question, I believe this question is itself brief first, and the answer to it has already been given second.

The questioner : Yes.

The Shaykh : So your work, above all, is a legitimate business with no objection to it, because there are sales of matters I mentioned earlier that are not permissible, such as people who sell, for example, tapes containing forbidden songs

The questioner: Yes.

The Shaykh : or musical instruments or the like, so this is a haram (forbidden) and corrupt earning. But as you said, your work is buying iron and manufacturing it into solar water heaters.

The questioner: Yes.

The Shaykh : This is a good work and a good benefit, provided you stay away from selling at two prices. Your question gives me the opportunity to return to the issue of installment sales at a higher price than cash sales, or as they say here, cash sales. The one who sells on installment at the cash price is more pious first, and it is more profitable for him second... It requires some explanation and clarification. As for the one who sells on installment at the cash sale price being more profitable for him in the long term, there is no problem with that, and it has been explained before, because it is a loan of a dirham that is equivalent to giving a dirham in charity. But I said it is more profitable for him in the short term, not just in the long term. This now needs clarification. How is it that the one who sells on installment at the cash sale price is more profitable for him in the short term? How is that? And in my opinion, if the merchants believed what I am saying now, which I will clarify shortly, if they believed that, the sale called installment sales would cease and disappear from the merchant market. But first, people are mostly hasty in seeking good and lack patience, which contains all the good. Second, they are mostly ignorant of the Shari'ah rulings, including this Shari'ah ruling. I say to people, imagine now two merchants, each selling one type of goods: a car dealership, a refrigerator dealership, a radio dealership, recording devices, or the like, anything. Each sells the same brand and model that his neighbor sells. But one merchant sells according to the Shari'ah, meaning the price of the item is the same whether it is cash or installment, one price. His neighbor’s installment price is higher than the cash price. Now you are all asked, whoever among you engages in trade, buying, and selling, and whoever does not engage in it but has a mind to use, which merchant will have more customers?

The questioner : The one with one price.

The Shaykh : The first or the second? Will the one who sells at two prices have more customers, or the one who sells at the single cash price?

Another questioner : The single price.

The Shaykh : Which one will have more customers, the one who sells at a single price? If we ask why, it is because people like cheapness. So, if they find at the first merchant, for example, a car of such a model and such a brand, priced at ten thousand cash or ten thousand and five hundred on installments, and the second one at ten thousand cash or ten thousand and five hundred on installments, who will pay the five hundred for the installment option? They will all go to the first one. So, this is the meaning of our statement: the one who sells at the cash price, even for installments, will be more profitable for him in the short and long term. But people, as I said before, like good things to come to them quickly. I know that this merchant who insists on selling at a single price, without doubt, his capital will be distributed, it will be distributed, but let him be patient for a few years; this capital will come, it will double, and it will eliminate the market of the other merchants who keep exploiting the needs of the needy and adding to them the cost of installment sales. So, this is more in accordance with the religion and more profitable, but it requires some patience. And who is patient? The materialistic, worldly people who do not think about the reward with Allah. And as Allah the Exalted said: These people who do not think this way want to obtain, at the earliest time, what are the multiplied profits due to installment sales? As for a Muslim man, he is the one who arms himself with the character of patience, so he is patient with his Muslim brother in fulfilling [his obligations], and then he will bring in place of the five hundred, hundreds, because he will bring in customers. So, so-and-so does not have a price for installments in addition to cash, so people will come to him and specialize in buying from him, and the outcome for him will be better than for the others. So, you must adhere to this and not differentiate between a person who pays you the full price in cash or delays the full price or half or half, or so on. The price is one. In addition to this, you are content with the small price, because this will also be one of the reasons for customers coming to you. You will have two reasons, each of which will make people come to you and turn away from others who compete with you in the same profession. First, you do not have two prices; second, you are content with the reasonable, lawful profit. And as he (peace and blessings be upon him) said, even if not in the appropriate context, but the opposite reality gives us this benefit. He (may Allah's prayers and peace be upon him) said: They said to him, how is that? O Messenger of Allah, he said, this one had a dirham and gave it in charity, while that one took a hundred thousand from the abundance of his wealth, meaning he did not feel what he was giving in charity because of the abundance of wealth, so he gave it in charity. Without doubt, this one who had a dirham and it went out of him, its meaning is that he struggled against his desires with a great struggle. As for that rich man who reaches his hand to his pocket and looks, and does not feel what came out of it, he is not asking because he has millions in the box, he does not feel what comes out of it. Now, on the contrary, I want to say that this merchant who profits a little, the outcome of the matter will be that the great profit will be compensated for him by the abundance of customers who will come to him, from the other merchants who are greedy for profit among them. So, you must do these two things: first, do not deal with people at two prices, but at one price; second, profit a little and much will come to you; third and finally, you must be sincere in perfecting your work, because the Messenger (may Allah's prayers and peace be upon him) used to say: And perfecting work is one of the obligations that many people neglect, whether they are free merchants or employees in the government. We notice things that we are surprised by happening in some roads, in some streets, we see a water pipe bursting and this water washing the ground in the heat of summer days. What is the story? The story is that the work in the middle of the pipes was not done with sincerity and perfection. The responsible committee comes and supervises the repair of this defect, but it does not pass a month or two before the same story repeats. We have in the street there what is now called "Street of Chivalry," we see this phenomenon all year round. What does this matter mean? It means that this worker is not sincere, and the employee supervising him is also not sincere, so the whole world is running on deceit upon deceit. The religion is sincerity, the religion is sincerity, they said: For whom, O Messenger of Allah? He said: For Allah, His Book, His Messenger, the leaders of the Muslims and their common people. So, may Allah bless you, it is your duty, so that the livelihood you obtain by this means is lawful, to perfect your work. So, if you adhere to these matters in this profession in particular, I hope that you will be among those who strive in the path of Allah, even if he does not go to Afghanistan and fight in the path of Allah. That is because of what came in the authentic hadith: So, this divine path can be trodden by the Muslim in his worldly work that he does to earn his daily sustenance, and behold, he is at the same time obtaining the sustenance and obtaining the wealth, if he works in the path of Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He.