What is the ruling on a person who wants to buy a car, goes to the bank, and is told to choose a car from the showroom, which the bank then buys for him and he pays in installments?
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The questioner : Regarding the banks, O Shaykh, the question from a little while ago, regarding the banks.
The Shaykh : Yes.
The questioner : They do not own the cars, O Shaykh. They just say, go to the showroom and bring the price of the car, and so on.
The Shaykh : This is not permissible; this is forbidden. For example, a person comes to a bank trader or someone else and says, "I want a car, and I have no money." He says, "Go to the showroom you want, give me the car, and I will buy it from the showroom and then sell it to you." This is forbidden. This is worse than if he said, "Take these fifty thousand riyals for sixty thousand," because if he gave him fifty thousand riyals to buy the car for sixty thousand over a year, is that not clear riba? Answer me, people!
The questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh : Well, if it is clear riba, what if he says, "Choose the car, and I will buy it and sell it to you."
The questioner : It is a ruse.
The Shaykh : This is a ruse and deception, and committing a sin with deception is worse than committing it openly for two reasons. The first reason is that this deceiver, may Allah protect us from that, is like one who mocks the verses of Allah, as if Allah does not know his intention.
The second is that as long as he believes this is lawful, he will continue with it. But the one who does it openly does so while being ashamed of Allah and shy before Allah, expecting that the first hour will come when Allah will grant him repentance. I will give you an example of something greater than this: Which is the greater sin, a disbeliever who openly declares disbelief, or a hypocrite?
The questioner : A hypocrite.
The Shaykh : The hypocrite is greater, because the hypocrite disbelieves and deceives, while the disbeliever is open. Well, these people who say, "Choose the car, and we will buy it and sell it to you"—did Satan dictate to them? Did he dictate to them a word they were deceived by? They said that the one who wants to buy it and then sell it, if the man, after the trader or the bank bought it as the questioner asked, made it easy for them, then it does not bind them. We heard this. They said, if it does not bind them, it is not a sale before [possession]. We say, actions are by intentions. When would a person make it easy for a man who chose the car, who proposed it, to make it easy? That is not the place for that; it is known. And the word "if he made it easy" is not correct, because we heard that if he makes it easy, his name is written on the black list, meaning that if he wants a second transaction, he will not be dealt with. So, in any case, I hope that you will spread among the people that this transaction is forbidden, and that it falls into riba and falls into deception. Yes.
The Shaykh : Yes.
The questioner : They do not own the cars, O Shaykh. They just say, go to the showroom and bring the price of the car, and so on.
The Shaykh : This is not permissible; this is forbidden. For example, a person comes to a bank trader or someone else and says, "I want a car, and I have no money." He says, "Go to the showroom you want, give me the car, and I will buy it from the showroom and then sell it to you." This is forbidden. This is worse than if he said, "Take these fifty thousand riyals for sixty thousand," because if he gave him fifty thousand riyals to buy the car for sixty thousand over a year, is that not clear riba? Answer me, people!
The questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh : Well, if it is clear riba, what if he says, "Choose the car, and I will buy it and sell it to you."
The questioner : It is a ruse.
The Shaykh : This is a ruse and deception, and committing a sin with deception is worse than committing it openly for two reasons. The first reason is that this deceiver, may Allah protect us from that, is like one who mocks the verses of Allah, as if Allah does not know his intention.
The second is that as long as he believes this is lawful, he will continue with it. But the one who does it openly does so while being ashamed of Allah and shy before Allah, expecting that the first hour will come when Allah will grant him repentance. I will give you an example of something greater than this: Which is the greater sin, a disbeliever who openly declares disbelief, or a hypocrite?
The questioner : A hypocrite.
The Shaykh : The hypocrite is greater, because the hypocrite disbelieves and deceives, while the disbeliever is open. Well, these people who say, "Choose the car, and we will buy it and sell it to you"—did Satan dictate to them? Did he dictate to them a word they were deceived by? They said that the one who wants to buy it and then sell it, if the man, after the trader or the bank bought it as the questioner asked, made it easy for them, then it does not bind them. We heard this. They said, if it does not bind them, it is not a sale before [possession]. We say, actions are by intentions. When would a person make it easy for a man who chose the car, who proposed it, to make it easy? That is not the place for that; it is known. And the word "if he made it easy" is not correct, because we heard that if he makes it easy, his name is written on the black list, meaning that if he wants a second transaction, he will not be dealt with. So, in any case, I hope that you will spread among the people that this transaction is forbidden, and that it falls into riba and falls into deception. Yes.