Discussion of installment sales adopted by some banks and that they are a ruse to circumvent riba.

The Shaykh : I want to return to the issue I mentioned is a Zahirite one, and these people are twisting it and clinging to it. You know the hadith that and the narrator explained that this radio is one hundred cash and one hundred and five or ten on installments. They said it is a turn and a twist, and here are the ruses of the Jews. They said if he says to him directly one hundred and ten, this is not two sales in one sale, this is one sale. But if he says to him one hundred cash and one hundred and ten on installments, yes, that is two sales. And this is from the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), and may Allah forbid that we contradict the Messenger of Allah. But I do not do this. What do I do? I tell him, my brother, this is one hundred and ten on installments, this is one sale. The Islamic bank now is twisting and gnawing on it with its teeth, saying we have a fatwa, but he returned to the original, to Islam with its fundamentals first and its branches second. The fundamentals require scholars, but the branches of these issues are very clear. So those who said we will sell one sale on installments for one hundred and ten in our example, they got rid of the form of the hadith, but they fell into contradicting its intent and its meaning. I said this is a modern Zahirite view. Why? This man comes to a merchant. He asks how much is this device? He says one thousand cash and one thousand and two hundred on installments. This is forbidden, it is not permissible. This comes to him and asks how much? He says this is one thousand and two hundred on installments. If he takes from that one thousand and two hundred, it is not permissible. If he takes from this one thousand and two hundred, it is permissible. Why? What is the difference? It is a pure formality. Do you know what formality means? It means he did not say to him cash for such and such and installments for such and such. He gave him the summary directly, which is in his favor: installments for one thousand and two hundred. This is a game of deception, similar to the deception of the Jews. Because everyone who studies the issue, not with the fiqh of the reality of today among these self-styled jurists who pick up from every madhhab what suits their desires, as we mentioned, but the one who studies the issue from the text, understands why the Wise Lawgiver forbade the increase. The answer is clear: If the riba occurs, whether in the two forms, i.e., the two sales or the second sale, it is clear. Is that clear up to here? Why is this Zahirite? I will give you an example, and there are many examples, and there are great scholars who said this, but, praise be to Allah, the masses rejected this opinion because it is extremely absurd, even though a noble scholar said it. I have a hadith in the two Sahihs, in al-Bukhari and Muslim, from Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) who said: I think you know the meaning of the hadith: stagnant water, a lake of standing water. This stagnant, non-flowing water, the authentic hadith forbids urinating in it. Why? It does not require great fiqh. The simplest person knows why. Because this water is clean; either it will become dirty or it will become ritually impure if one urinates in it. If it does not become ritually impure, it becomes dirty. So that Zahirite said: if he urinated in a vessel and poured what was in the vessel into the stagnant water, it is permissible. What do you think of this fiqh? This is exactly like that, but this penetrates the heart quickly. This requires a little thought for the person to engage with. And in the end, he will believe completely that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) forbade two sales in one sale and said: the one with the lower price. And when he said installments for one hundred and ten or one thousand and two hundred, he took the increase in exchange for what? The increase is in exchange for patience in payment, right? Now, let us return to the companies today that I mentioned, and you excepted some companies. I advise you to stick to this exception. Even if the owner of the hundred bags on installments comes to you, it will be a reward for you as if you gave charity with fifty bags. But the private companies today that sell devices and cars, do you know they have two prices, right or not? And if there were not two prices, the Islamic bank would not be able to operate, right or not? If the Islamic bank, what does it equal? The merchant sells the car, for example, for ten thousand dinars cash and eleven thousand on installments. What does the bank say to the intermediary or its client? It says: go and look for any car you like and bring me its price, cash or installments? Installments...

The questioner : ...

The Shaykh : We have not yet reached the buyer. He will go and bring the installment price. We will say, in the previous hypothesis, it is eleven thousand. He will tell the customer: we will call you back in a day or two, and so on. Who does the bank call? The company, the car dealer. They ask: how much is the price of such and such car cash? They say ten thousand, for example, and perhaps considering him a merchant.