A form of forward sale (salam).

The Shaykh : This is correct, Doctor, but there is a ruling on this. We do not want to wrong people or be harsh with them. You know that today, all car companies provide specifications and catalogs and so on. So, if you buy a car of a known make and a known model, and all the specifications are recorded, this is like a forward sale (salam). You know what a forward sale (salam) is; it is called a forward sale (salam) or a prepayment sale (sarf). He (peace and blessings be upon him) said: . For example, a farmer comes to the merchant who sells grain; we call him the feed seller, the one who sells feed. He says to him, "This year I will produce so many qintars of wheat, and the type of wheat is the known specifications in the country." He asks him, "How much will you buy it for now?" The season has not yet arrived, and they agree. Naturally, both the merchant and the farmer know that he cannot sell to the merchant at the seasonal price; rather, it is at a lower price to encourage the farmer to sell. So, as he (peace and blessings be upon him) said, . This is permissible, and this was the practice during the time of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him). What is not permissible, and falls under his (peace and blessings be upon him) saying: , is these necessities that change and vary every moment, such as dates, which come in types and shapes that cannot be specified; or any of the vegetables and fruits, and so on. But a car exists between us and them after the two horizons, but this model and these specifications, apart from the price difference between cash and installment, have nothing wrong with this transaction. And in my opinion, no merchant can buy a car that is present with him except based on specifications and details, and the models they agree upon come from that. So this addresses the issue, but it is not strong. The strong point is that they take the installment difference and do not know a single price, which is the cash price and the installment price. If an Islamic bank or other entity brings cars and profits from them, there is no objection to that. It and any company are in the same position. Some banks in the United Arab Emirates do this. In Kuwait, for example, some companies import cars on behalf of a bank and place them in a specific location, and the bank says, "This car is here, look at it, and if you like it, its price is so much and so much, at your discretion, O merchant." There is absolutely no problem with this. But if they say the cash price is so much and the installment price is so much, the transaction is ruined. Because when I tell you the cash price is so much, without a doubt, he has done a precise calculation on the computer of how much the car cost and how much he will profit, five or ten percent. If this car is four thousand dinars in cash, and you want to buy it on installment for two hundred or three hundred more, and so on, this installment is from the category of consuming people's wealth unjustly, and it falls under the generality of his (peace and blessings be upon him) saying:

The questioner : Explanation of the hadith: This suitcase is empty and new, its cash price is ten dinars, and on installment it is twelve dinars. So, if you buy the suitcase from me on installment, when I take ten dinars, I have taken my right, and if I take two dinars more, I have eaten riba (usury or interest). Whoever sells two sales, cash for ten and installment for twelve, he has the lesser of the two. What is the lesser here? The ten, or the more, which is the riba (usury or interest), which is twelve dinars.

The questioner : Okay, how do we put our money in the Islamic bank, meaning in a trust vault?

The Shaykh : Who puts it?

The questioner : For example, I have put it in the Islamic bank according to the fatwa of the scholars, so what do I do?

The Shaykh : May Allah be your helper and the helper of the scholars.

The questioner : We need a solution.

The Shaykh : The solution is . Withdraw your money from the Islamic bank and do not raise a flag in front of people so that the thieves do not catch up with you; ... because many people think in a strange way. They say, "If I put my money in the house, the thieves will attack it." O my brother, you are putting a flag on the roof of your house saying, "Look, there is money and treasure here." What is this talk? It is very regrettable. I heard this talk in London.