He spoke about the merchants.

The Shaykh : We return to what we were discussing. I say that if an Islamic bank, like any of these merchants, sells at two prices, we advise it not to do so. However, some say that it is permissible. And our Lord says to our Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), who is the master of mankind, Would a person among us, who has a little information, dominate people? No. And if Allah (Mighty and Majestic) says to His Prophet then we, a fortiori, have nothing but to convey what the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) conveyed to us. So we convey to people, on this occasion and otherwise, that installment sales with an increase in price are not permissible. But some people have their status, their knowledge, and their independent legal reasoning; they issue rulings to people that there is no harm in installment sales. So I say, if the Islamic bank is a merchant bank that brings in cars, refrigerators, and so on, like any merchant, and sells at two prices, we say there is no power and no strength [except in Allah]. There are those who issue rulings for it, but no one issues a ruling for it to insert an intermediary between it and the buyer, between the merchant and the buyer. You go, buy, and I pay for you, and then he takes the increase. That is riba. But I repeat: I do not advise a Muslim who believes in Allah and the Last Day, even if he is a small grocer with a small capital, to sell at two prices. This increase is riba. And the Messenger (peace be upon him) says This is from the legal perspective. Riba is forbidden, and the outcome is poverty and decrease, contrary to what they imagine, that they will become owners of vast and very large amounts of wealth. But the outcome of the matter is that this usurer will be shattered in the worst way, because he fights Allah and His Messenger. This is from the religious and hereafter perspective: that he disobeys Allah and His Messenger. Whoever consumes riba in any form of riba, whether explicitly, as the other banks deal, as we mentioned, or by twisting and turning. But I am amazed how these merchants who sell at two prices overlook that their immediate, worldly material interest is to sell at one price. Their material interest is to sell at one price, were it not for greed and the dominance of the fleeting present over their hearts. How? Suppose with me two scenarios of two merchants, both selling the same goods. One sells at the cash price, in the two transactions, taking no increase for the debt and installment. The other sells at two prices, as we mentioned earlier. Which merchant’s trade outcome is more profitable, materially? The one who sells at one price or the one who sells at two prices? Tell me, what do you say?

The questioner : At one price.

The Shaykh : Why? Because every person loves the cheap price, and the goods are the same. So when customers hear that this merchant sells the same goods on installment at the same price, no one goes to the man who takes an increase for the installment. They all turn to the merchant who sells at one price. Why do merchants not do this? As I told you earlier, the dominance of greed and avarice in the hearts of merchants, on one hand, and the removal of mercy and compassion from the hearts of these merchants, on the other. They know nothing but material things and the world. I say, on this occasion, the merchant, by virtue of his preoccupation with trade, and there is no harm in that, because the Companions used to trade, as you know, the journey of winter and summer mentioned in the Noble Qur'an. And trade is a means for a person to chaste himself and to make his family independent of asking and of unlawful food and drink. This is worship. Indeed, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) counted that among the categories of jihad, or considered it in the path of Allah, as came in the hadith narrated by al-Tabarani and others, and mentioned by al-Hafiz al-Mundhiri in his book al-Targhib wa al-Tarhib, and in the book of sales, that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) sat one day among his companions when a young man, strong, robust, and energetic, passed by them. When his companions saw him in this state of strength and energy, they said, "If this were in the path of Allah." So he (peace and blessings be upon him) said So there is no objection to a Muslim working in trade and engaging in profit-sharing partnerships, because the Messenger (peace be upon him) considered that in the path of Allah. But who is in his trade in the path of Allah? No doubt, it is the one who preserves the rulings of Allah in his trade, which is in the path of Allah. For example, our Lord (Mighty and Majestic) said that trade has its laws, its regulations, its ledgers, and so on. It is very difficult to see a merchant in this time who worships the worship that is above the obligatory. For example, it is barely possible to find a merchant immersed in his trade who hears the call of Allah, "Hayya 'ala al-salah, Hayya 'ala al-falah," and then leaves his selling and trade and rushes to the mosque. This may exist, but rarely. But if he is found, he hardly waits for the imam to finish the taslim before he hastens to return to his shop. There is no harm; he has fulfilled the obligation, and praise be to Allah. This is the merchant who, despite that, preserves the performance of prayer at its time and in congregation. As for sitting to remember Allah, reading, for example, the dhikr and the daily recitations related to after the prayer, it is very, very rare for a merchant among these merchants to preserve that.