What is the ruling on tawarruq? And is zakah due on a deferred check if a lunar year has passed over it?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner : O Shaykh, may Allah reward you. This question was presented to us in this session. It says: “May the peace and mercy of Allah be upon you, O honorable Shaykh. I am posing this question to you and hope for a written answer:”
A merchant buys a car from a person for two and a half million pounds.
The Shaykh : What?
The questioner : He buys a car for two and a half million.
The Shaykh : Two million?
The questioner : Two and a half million with a deferred check, in currency.
The Shaykh : Cheap currency, you mean?
The questioner : The currency of our country is Islamic.
The Shaykh : Yes.
The questioner : With a deferred check for a period of six months, or four million Sudanese pounds for a period of one year. Then he sells the car in that same session for one and a half million Sudanese pounds. What is the ruling on this sale?
And is zakah due on the deferred check if a lunar year has passed over it, given that the document is still in the possession of the first seller? And he notes: “Given that the actual market value of the car is one and a half million?”
The Shaykh : Yes, there is nothing wrong with a person buying a car or anything else for a cash price that is less than the deferred price. For example, he might say: “I will buy this car for ten thousand in cash, or for twelve thousand deferred for one year.” Then they agree on one of the two prices before parting ways. This is permissible and is not from the category of “two sales in one sale” as some scholars thought. Rather, it is giving the man a choice between this sale or that sale. They will not leave their session without specifying which one it is, either the deferred or the immediate. As for converting the price into a check, there is nothing wrong with that either, because selling the car for dirhams does not involve riba.
As for the buyer selling the car for a lower price in order to get the cash, this is called by the scholars the issue of tawarruq if he sells it to someone other than the one he bought it from. If he sells it to the one he bought it from, it is the issue of ‘inah.
So the owner of the car bought it from Zayd for twelve thousand deferred for one year, then sold it to ‘Amr for ten thousand in cash. This is tawarruq. If he sold it to Zayd, the one he originally bought it from, for ten thousand, this is the issue of ‘inah.
The scholars, may Allah have mercy on them, differed on the issue of tawarruq: whether it is lawful or forbidden. Some scholars chose that it is lawful if a person needs cash, meaning the price. The Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah chose that it is forbidden and that it is from the ‘inah that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) forbade. The precaution is not to do it. It is said: If you need dirhams and you find someone to lend them to you, that is what is sought. If you do not find such a person, then you should resort to salam, meaning you take dirhams for a deferred commodity, describing it and specifying its characteristics. For example, you say: “Give me ten thousand riyals, and I will give you a car after one year, with such and such characteristics,” and you fix it with the characteristics. This is permissible because the Companions did it when the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) arrived in Madinah, and they were making salam in fruits for one or two years. He said:Mishkat al-Masabih 2883.
The questioner : The deferred check, if a lunar year has passed over it?
The Shaykh : If a lunar year has passed over it before he receives it, he owes nothing.
The questioner : And is zakah due on the deferred check if a lunar year has passed over it, given that the document belongs to him?
The Shaykh : I say: The deferred check, meaning the check written for a person for a deferred price, if he speaks to the bank owner and he says, “Yes, I have this,” it becomes like a debt for which zakah is obligatory. Yes.
A merchant buys a car from a person for two and a half million pounds.
The Shaykh : What?
The questioner : He buys a car for two and a half million.
The Shaykh : Two million?
The questioner : Two and a half million with a deferred check, in currency.
The Shaykh : Cheap currency, you mean?
The questioner : The currency of our country is Islamic.
The Shaykh : Yes.
The questioner : With a deferred check for a period of six months, or four million Sudanese pounds for a period of one year. Then he sells the car in that same session for one and a half million Sudanese pounds. What is the ruling on this sale?
And is zakah due on the deferred check if a lunar year has passed over it, given that the document is still in the possession of the first seller? And he notes: “Given that the actual market value of the car is one and a half million?”
The Shaykh : Yes, there is nothing wrong with a person buying a car or anything else for a cash price that is less than the deferred price. For example, he might say: “I will buy this car for ten thousand in cash, or for twelve thousand deferred for one year.” Then they agree on one of the two prices before parting ways. This is permissible and is not from the category of “two sales in one sale” as some scholars thought. Rather, it is giving the man a choice between this sale or that sale. They will not leave their session without specifying which one it is, either the deferred or the immediate. As for converting the price into a check, there is nothing wrong with that either, because selling the car for dirhams does not involve riba.
As for the buyer selling the car for a lower price in order to get the cash, this is called by the scholars the issue of tawarruq if he sells it to someone other than the one he bought it from. If he sells it to the one he bought it from, it is the issue of ‘inah.
So the owner of the car bought it from Zayd for twelve thousand deferred for one year, then sold it to ‘Amr for ten thousand in cash. This is tawarruq. If he sold it to Zayd, the one he originally bought it from, for ten thousand, this is the issue of ‘inah.
The scholars, may Allah have mercy on them, differed on the issue of tawarruq: whether it is lawful or forbidden. Some scholars chose that it is lawful if a person needs cash, meaning the price. The Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah chose that it is forbidden and that it is from the ‘inah that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) forbade. The precaution is not to do it. It is said: If you need dirhams and you find someone to lend them to you, that is what is sought. If you do not find such a person, then you should resort to salam, meaning you take dirhams for a deferred commodity, describing it and specifying its characteristics. For example, you say: “Give me ten thousand riyals, and I will give you a car after one year, with such and such characteristics,” and you fix it with the characteristics. This is permissible because the Companions did it when the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) arrived in Madinah, and they were making salam in fruits for one or two years. He said:
Those who pay in advance for anything must do so for a specified measure and weight with a specified time fixed.
من أسلف في شيء فليسلف في كيل معلوم ووزن معلوم إلى أجل معلومThe questioner : The deferred check, if a lunar year has passed over it?
The Shaykh : If a lunar year has passed over it before he receives it, he owes nothing.
The questioner : And is zakah due on the deferred check if a lunar year has passed over it, given that the document belongs to him?
The Shaykh : I say: The deferred check, meaning the check written for a person for a deferred price, if he speaks to the bank owner and he says, “Yes, I have this,” it becomes like a debt for which zakah is obligatory. Yes.