What is the ruling on converting paper money into gold out of fear that its value will drop in the future?

The questioner : What about the one who rushes to convert this paper currency into gold for fear that it will lose its purchasing power over time?

The Shaykh : There is no objection to it, provided that he does not make it a trade, meaning that if he sees that gold has risen in price, he sells it in the market; but with the intention you mentioned, this is better.

The questioner : So, if the issue of debt is that a person lends, for example, one hundred dinars, but writes it down as the value of ten grams of gold of such-and-such purity, on the basis that if he repays it after two or three years, the purchasing power of the dinar may have changed, so instead of repaying it...?

The Shaykh : If the value written down is the value at that moment?

The questioner : The value at that moment.

The Shaykh : This is the obligatory thing, if possible.

The questioner : But in this case, I tried to start with it, but the person I wanted to lend to objected, because he said, meaning, both of us are the ones harmed, for example...

The Shaykh : Objected, you say?

The questioner : Objected to this arrangement.

The Shaykh : He objected to this arrangement, and he is the borrower, so let him go his way.

The questioner : But he said that when I repay the money, it will be like that, meaning the harm will be doubled for me, for example; first, I will repay the money in gold, and then my salary will remain as it is.

The Shaykh : What is the solution? We tell him, what is the solution for you? He wants to borrow, what is the solution?

The questioner : He should not borrow at all?

The Shaykh : We tell him, what is the solution for you? He wants to borrow, what is the solution? He should not borrow?

The questioner : If he will repay it double in his estimation, that is a calamity.

The Shaykh : Where is the doubling, my brother? You and he are judging the future.

The questioner : The future, yes.

The Shaykh : How do you know that it will become double, you or he?

The questioner : No, he presents the picture of the harm, he does not present the second picture...

The Shaykh : You did not answer me, you did not answer me, how do you and he know that it is going to become double?

The questioner : The situation in the country, for example, is deteriorating, and the purchasing power of the currency is dropping, meaning it is predicted from this situation that it may drop more than that, so it follows that he will have to repay it double or approximately that.

The Shaykh : My brother, the Jordanian dinar, which used to be worth ten riyals, dropped to five. When it dropped to five, I told him, let us record for him a certain weight of gold; so now, what will the dinar drop to when I told him that in this case we convert it to the value of gold? How do you know, or does he know, that the dinar will also drop? Is this not guessing about the unseen? And the proof is that the dinar improved by some qirush. This is not permissible, but dealing in gold is the original standard, and paper currencies have no intrinsic value. If it were always possible to deal on the basis of gold, that would be justice, whether the paper currency drops or rises, that does not concern us; because gold does not drop or rise, but the paper currency is what rises and falls. There is no god but Allah.