Some rulings related to leasing and the meaning of the saying of Allah the Exalted: “Fulfill the contracts.”

The questioner : Regarding the value of the dinar, there is a man who has been renting for three years at fifty dinars. Now that the value of the dinar has dropped, I feel it is obligatory for me to raise the price, or to inform...

The Shaykh : May Allah reward you with good, and your companion... it remains like my story; he will say, “May Allah reward you with good.”

The questioner : But...

The Shaykh : But will you do it, if Allah wills?

The questioner : How can I not do it? The principle is that I do it.

The Shaykh : Here is the problem.

The questioner : But reality compels me not to do it.

The Shaykh : Why?

The questioner : Because as an employee, I receive one hundred dinars, and my salary has remained as it is.

The Shaykh : I mean, do you not have an employee?

The questioner : I am an employee.

The Shaykh : You say as an employee.

The questioner : No, I mean as a status—(laughs)The Shaykh : And the students... the one hundred dinars remained as they were, my salary did not increase, and nothing from the items I need increased. How will I increase? How will I manage? And consider this...

The Shaykh : Do not be imitators, saying, “If the people do good, we do good, and if they oppress, we oppress.” But resolve in yourselves that if they do good, you do good, and if they do evil, do not oppress. This man in whose house you are living, you testify that you are oppressing him, because your teacher is oppressing you, so you must oppress him?

The questioner : I am unable to fulfill it.

The Shaykh : Give me an answer, because your teacher is oppressing you, do you want to oppress your lessor? Say no.

The questioner : No, of course not.

The Shaykh : It is an easy, soft thing. We will now address the issue of “I am unable.” Yes, here is the Islamic dealing, the ideal one today, the ideal one, because there is no Islamic dealing today, unfortunately. You come to the lessor, the owner of the house, and say to him, “My brother, I am sorry because of this crisis of the drop in the dinar. You are entitled to a doubled monthly rent from me, but the truth is that I am sorry on the other hand that I am unable to pay it to you. Do you have a solution? In my opinion, if it were the stingiest of people, when he hears this offer, he will concede with you. He will say to you, “Look, my brother, you are blaming yourself, and what you are paying, I accept it.” For example, this is the good image that suits you, for example. In this example, we can imagine the man becomes arrogant and strong against you and says to you, “No, I do not accept anything but double the rent, one hundred dinars a month. I want it to be two hundred dinars.” In this case, you have one of two situations: either you tell him, “I am unable, may Allah bless you in your house, and give me a week, two weeks, a month, two months. I will rent a new house that suits my income and my earnings,” or you notice that you have the ability to pay him the difference over time that you will agree upon, a debt, I mean. So the solution is not to say, “Just as my teacher oppressed me, I will oppress my lessor.” No, I will address the issue with him in one of the ways so that he is satisfied, because the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) used to say: . Today, unfortunately, if the percentage is one hundred, one or two are excluded from them, and so on. Regarding this, they do not respect the rights of others at all. The one who has been living in a house for twenty years, at fifty dinars, at fifty and twenty dinars, continues to pay it until now, twenty-five dinars. This is oppression, as we mentioned regarding the previous debt. Put yourself in the place of the lessor. Are you satisfied with this money, the rent you are paying? No. So be just to people from yourself. In summary of the answer, since your income does not help you to clear your obligation to him, there are several ways for you to prevent you from oppressing the lessor, because of what? Because your teacher is not raising your salaries, may Allah have mercy on you.

The questioner : Continue with the same question: the teacher himself is my creditor for one thousand dinars, and he did not increase my salary. Do I give him an increase?

The Shaykh : If Allah wills, the state will not give him a single qirsh, only despite it. If it is a guarantee, that is how it is. It is supposed that the state should expand for the people, meaning it should restore to us the conduct of 'Umar ibn al-Khattab and 'Umar ibn 'Abd al-'Aziz. Do you know how? So the state without plunder, without robbery. What did she want? It is the situation. But as for individuals, it is not permissible.

The questioner : In the same question, our Shaykh, if there is a lease contract between them for five years or ten years, including the speech, the answer.

The Shaykh : Do an exchange. Put yourself in the place of the lessor? And answer?

The questioner : I mean, by the text of the verse, we wanted to mention...

The Shaykh : No, the text of the verse does not include this situation. Why did you not answer me?

The questioner : I want to be, I am not accepting.

The Shaykh : Okay, accept if you were the lessor... the verse does not say?

The questioner : .

The Shaykh : What is the meaning of ?

The questioner : I mean, fulfill the agreement that you agreed upon between you.

The Shaykh : Literally, apparently, like the examples we gave?

The questioner : There is a specific agreement.

The Shaykh : You did not answer me. Why are you not answering?

The questioner : How do you mean literally?

The Shaykh : Like that. Why am I asking you? As you ask me, we did not give you an example: it was forbidden to urinate in stagnant water, but if he urinated in the empty vessel and poured what was in the vessel into the vessel, the urine.

The questioner : It is a ruse.

The Shaykh : Okay, , I tell you, put yourself in the place of the lessor. What is the meaning of “Fulfill the contracts” in wording or in meaning? The wording forbade urinating in stagnant water, the meaning you know. And here also in the verse, what does the verse mean? It means do not break them, meaning we agreed on something and then we quickly broke it, but circumstances came that were not present at the time of the contract, so they necessitated looking at this contract. It accepts modification, it accepts addition, it accepts deletion. This is another thing, clear?

The questioner: Yes.

The questioner: May Allah bless you.

The questioner : Ask in the same question.

The Shaykh : ... What Allah wills, this question is blessed.

The questioner : If, our Shaykh, there are still some empty houses at the same price that was in effect previously, meaning if a person will rent a house in the situation we are in, and finds the same suitable prices that are in the markets?

The Shaykh : Put yourself in the place of the lessor.

The questioner : He asked me like this for the rent.

The Shaykh : You put yourself in the place of the lessor.

The questioner : If you hear, your youth will increase the price, and if not... Our Shaykh, there are now some empty apartments, and one of them is a lessor. He naturally lowered the rent from what it was when he first raised the rent... because he was renting at eighty dinars and now he made it seventy dinars. There are empty apartments he wants to rent, so he rents them at the same price in this situation.

The Shaykh : This question is not valid. The one who rents the house, we said, from twenty years ago and pays twenty-five dinars now. If he vacates it, only twenty-five, will you bring?

The questioner : No, our Shaykh, from five years...

The Shaykh : My brother, we do not want to discuss examples, my brother. The point is to clarify the issue, not from twenty-five years, not from five years, not from two years. If he vacates this house and its renter was at twenty-five, will you rent it at twenty-five or at twenty-six?

The questioner : ... Our Shaykh, at twenty-five.