The ruling on the sale of 'inah, the ruses in sales, and the like.

The Shaykh : But I want to mention now the first disease that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) mentioned in the hadith regarding the exchange of 'inah. This disease is widespread in some countries, and most people, as the Lord of the Worlds said: The sale of 'inah is a type of sales or transactions involving usury or interest that is not permissible to engage in. And unfortunately, some people deal in it as if it were a transaction permissible by the Shari'ah. The sale of 'inah is known to the scholars, and it is derived from the word "ayn," meaning the essence or the thing itself. For example, a man comes to a merchant who sells cars, for instance, and he asks him for the price of a car and buys it from him on installment rather than in cash. He buys it from him, for example, for twenty thousand, and then this buyer becomes a seller and says to the merchant, "Will you buy this car from me?" The merchant knows that the man wants money from him, so they agree on a price lower than the price he bought it for, let us say, for example, two or three thousand less. The point is to give an example. So, this person who bought and then sold has twenty thousand recorded against him, but he took less than that by two thousand or more. This transaction is the sale of 'inah that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) forbade, because the reality of this sale is very, very clear to one who avoids following desires, or at least following what he has become accustomed to regarding the sale of 'inah. This is because the true reality intended by this sale is that he takes less than what is recorded against him. There is no difference between this form, in which usury or interest is concealed by the sale, and if he came to this merchant and said, "Give me twenty thousand and give me seventeen thousand, and I will give you twenty thousand." All Muslims, and praise be to Allah, to this day believe with certainty that this usurious transaction is not permissible. Why? Because cash was taken for less than what was recorded against him. But what is the difference between this form and the sale of 'inah? Here, the sale was adopted as a means to make usury or interest lawful. This is what the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) warned us about in some of the hadiths mentioned previously, namely his prohibition (peace and blessings be upon him) of following the ways of those before us, and he mentioned the Jews in particular when Allah the Mighty and Majestic forbade them the fats, as the Lord of the Worlds said in the Noble Qur'an: We forbade them the good things that were made lawful for them. Of these good things, those also forbidden by the explicit text of the Qur'an are the fats. And it came in the previous hadith: Here we find that the Jews manipulated the legal ruling, which is the prohibition of fats. Our Lord, the Mighty and Majestic, is Wise and Knowing of the injustice of the Jews, so He forbade them the fats. That is, when a Jew slaughtered a sheep or a fat ram, he would eat only the red meat and throw the fat to the ground, in obedience to the command of Allah the Mighty and Majestic. Then the Jews did not have patience with this legal ruling, so they devised a ruse to make it lawful. They melted this fat, which is the meaning of the saying of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him): meaning, they melted them, throwing the fats into these pots and lighting a fire underneath them. The fats took another form, which is the settling of the fat, like the settling of water on a flat surface. Satan deceived them and made it seem to them and beautified for them that the fat had now ceased to be fat, while they knew that in its nature, composition, taste, and deliciousness, it was still fat. So they changed the form in order to eat it, as is said in some countries. But in this change, they made lawful what Allah had forbidden. The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) did not narrate to us the story of the Jews making these fats lawful by this ruse, and our Lord the Mighty and Majestic did not narrate to us the story of the Jews in their ruse regarding the hunting of fish on the Sabbath by trapping the fish in the bays, as is mentioned in the exegeses. Allah did not narrate that to us, nor did any Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), merely for the sake of history, but rather, as He said: So the lesson here is in the two stories: their story with the fish and their story with the fats. Let us not fall into what they fell into, which is rusing to make lawful what Allah has forbidden. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) forbade the sale of 'inah so that Muslims would not fall into the ruse of usury or interest, the form of which is that one borrows less than what is recorded against him. And here too, one borrows less than what is recorded against him, but behind a formal appearance. Just as the Jews changed the fats when they melted them in form. And when I say this, I know that many scholars forbid the sale of 'inah. And as some of them, to whom this hadith did not reach or who did not consider it authentic because it is not their specialization, say that this sale is permissible, clinging to the word "sale." But the people of knowledge know that the mere occurrence of the word "sale" in a transaction does not make that transaction a sale unless the Shari'ah has not forbidden it. And if we return to this hadith, we find that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) mentioned the exchange of 'inah as the first of the diseases that he listed after him, namely the greed for this world and the abandonment of jihad in the path of Allah the Mighty and Majestic. So it is obligatory for us to take heed of this hadith and not fall into this prohibition or into these diseases that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) mentioned. This is so that we may return to what our Lord the Mighty and Majestic wanted us to be, in His saying, Blessed and Exalted is He: This is what I wanted to say on the occasion of these good questions that came from this blessed association, if Allah wills, the Association of the Qur'an and the Sunnah. We ask Allah the Mighty and Majestic to inspire us and you to understand Islam with a correct understanding in the light of the Book and the Sunnah and the authentic Sunnah, and on the methodology of the Salaf the righteous. And that He may guide our rulers and the ruled to act upon this pure Islam. I ask Allah the Mighty and Majestic, who is Allah, the One, the Eternal, who has not begotten nor been begotten, and there is none comparable to Him, to accept this supplication of ours and to give us victory over all our enemies. Indeed, He is the All-Hearing, the Responsive. And all praise is due to Allah, the Lord of the Worlds.

The questioner : May Allah reward you with good, O our Shaykh.

The Shaykh : And you, and may Allah bless you all.

The questioner : What Allah willed, there is no power except by Allah.

The Shaykh : We ask Allah to help us and you.

The questioner : And may He guide your steps to the truth.

The Shaykh : O Allah, respond, and may Allah accept your supplication. Yes.

The questioner: Our Shaykh.

The Shaykh: Yes.

The questioner : The brothers present submitted questions that exceeded or approached one hundred and fifty questions!

The Shaykh : What Allah willed.

The questioner : We know your time and your great eagerness to make the most of it, and it is all, if Allah wills, in the path of Allah the Mighty and Majestic.

The Shaykh : And it is so, if Allah wills.

The questioner : If we were not to extract some of the most important questions as things permit.

The Shaykh: I am with you.

The questioner : May Allah reward you with good. I say, O our Shaykh, before I begin the questions, and I have noticed the eyes and movements of the brothers present as a result of your good and blessed detail and elaboration, which was truly a comprehensive methodology in returning people to the religion and establishing true jihad in your hearts. I say that this scholarly methodology of yours in answering the questions directed to you is a methodology that you have distinguished yourselves with in terms of detail and elaboration by mentioning the arguments and evidence. And because this methodology, O our Shaykh, is not practiced by many of the muftis and scholars, many peopleThe questioner : may find this methodology difficult and not palatable, and consequently do not accept it, especially now after that blessed and beneficial lengthening, that time has become short and the questions have become numerous. So we hope from you, O our Shaykh, as is expected and hoped for from you, that you consider this matter in answering the following questions, if Allah wills!

The Shaykh : We ask Allah to guide us and you to the truth in which people have differed!

The questioner: May Allah reward you with good.

The Shaykh : And to you.