What do you say about a man who says: I am selling you this car for next year for sixty thousand riyals (60,000 riyals), and if you do not pay on time, it becomes (

The questioner : What do you say about a man who says to another: I am selling you this car for next year for sixty thousand riyals, and if you do not pay, the amount becomes eighty thousand riyals for the following year, and this is stated at the beginning of the contract? I ask for your guidance on this, O honorable Shaykh, may Allah reward you?

The Shaykh : This contract is forbidden because it is riba. If the seller is doubtful about the buyer’s ability to pay, let him set the price at the higher of the two amounts and the term at the later of the two periods. If a person sells something worth a thousand now for two thousand over a period of two years, there is no harm in it, as it falls under the general meaning of the saying of Allah the Exalted: Or if he sells it for fifteen hundred over one year, there is nothing wrong with it. However, if he says: I sold you something worth a thousand for fifteen hundred over one year, and if you do not pay, it becomes two thousand, then this is forbidden and not permissible because it is riba. Yes.

The questioner : He says.