I exchanged a large bracelet for a smaller one I had, and the gold seller asked me for the difference, which I paid. Is the transaction valid, or is it riba (usury or interest)?
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The questioner : May Allah reward you, O honorable Shaykh, he says:The questioner : I exchanged a large bracelet for a smaller one I had, and the gold seller asked me for the difference, which I paid. Is the transaction valid, or is it riba (usury or interest)?
The Shaykh : Yes, if he sold a small bracelet for a large one and paid the difference between the value of the small and the large, is this riba (usury or interest) or not? That is how the question came, and the answer from you, we read this, is that not so? Good.
The student: ...
The Shaykh : It is not riba (usury or interest). Good. And what is the ruling on selling gold for its like, where one of them... two conditions are required in it, and the second is similarity. So this is small and that is large; it is similar. Will it be riba (usury or interest) or not? Glory be to Allah, it will be riba (usury or interest) as long as it is not similar. It is clear, and do you understand now? If he sold a small bracelet weighing, for example, two grams, and a large one weighing four grams, will it be riba (usury or interest) or not?
The student: ...
The Shaykh : It will be riba (usury or interest), my brother. Yes, they did not differ on the like-for-like aspect; they differed on the weight. It is all gold, the same type, all gold. Good. They differed in weight; will it be riba (usury or interest) or not? The Messenger of Allah said:Sahih al-Bukhari 2176 And now, they are like-for-like; what will it be? It will be riba (usury or interest). Good, rest. So, if he sold a small bracelet for a large one, it is riba (usury or interest). We agreed on this, did we not? Good. If he paid the difference, he said: The weight of this is three grams, and the weight of this is two grams. If the value of this is thirty, the value of this is twenty. I will pay the difference of ten. I mean, I say the owner of the small bracelet will pay the difference of ten and take the large one. Does this operation remove the riba (usury or interest)? Yes, the correct view is that it does not remove it. And Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah said that it is removed on the condition that the increase corresponds to the value paid for the difference. He said that this does not contradict the saying of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him): Because we made two-thirds of this excess correspond to the deficit. This is three grams, and this is two grams. We make two-thirds of three grams correspond to the small one, which is two grams, and the ten dirhams, for example, correspond to the extra gram in the large bracelet. This is the opinion of Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah. The opinion of Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah is respected for us, and it is among the strongest and most correct opinions. But this opinion contradicts the apparent meaning of the hadith, and therefore we do not adopt it, because we are not responsible for the opinion of so-and-so and so-and-so on the Day of Resurrection. What are we responsible for on the Day of Resurrection? A person is asked about something: [An-Nahl 16:27] And this is a question about tawhid (the oneness of Allah). And on the Day they will be called out: [Al-Qasas 28:65] And this is a question about following. So a person on the Day of Resurrection is asked: What did you answer the Messenger, or what did you answer so-and-so? Answer the Messenger. So if something is authentically reported from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), or rather, if something is authentically reported from him, then we reject everything else with what is authentically reported from the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him). Therefore, exchanging the large bracelet for the small one with the payment of the difference is not permissible according to the stronger opinion, even though some scholars, such as Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah, said that it is permissible on the condition that the difference paid corresponds exactly to the excess, neither more nor less. Yes.
The questioner : ... .
The Shaykh : Yes.
The Shaykh : Yes, if he sold a small bracelet for a large one and paid the difference between the value of the small and the large, is this riba (usury or interest) or not? That is how the question came, and the answer from you, we read this, is that not so? Good.
The student: ...
The Shaykh : It is not riba (usury or interest). Good. And what is the ruling on selling gold for its like, where one of them... two conditions are required in it, and the second is similarity. So this is small and that is large; it is similar. Will it be riba (usury or interest) or not? Glory be to Allah, it will be riba (usury or interest) as long as it is not similar. It is clear, and do you understand now? If he sold a small bracelet weighing, for example, two grams, and a large one weighing four grams, will it be riba (usury or interest) or not?
The student: ...
The Shaykh : It will be riba (usury or interest), my brother. Yes, they did not differ on the like-for-like aspect; they differed on the weight. It is all gold, the same type, all gold. Good. They differed in weight; will it be riba (usury or interest) or not? The Messenger of Allah said:
Do not sell gold for gold unless equal in weight
الذهب بالذهب مثلا بمثلLike for like
مثلا بمثلThen on the Day of Resurrection He will disgrace them and say, "Where are My 'partners' for whom you used to oppose [the believers]?" Those who were given knowledge will say, "Indeed disgrace, this Day, and evil are upon the disbelievers" -
أين شركائي الذين كنتم تعبدونand say, "What did you answer the messengers?"
فيقول ماذا أجبتم المرسلينThe questioner : ... .
The Shaykh : Yes.