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What is the Sharia ruling on a financing contract for the purchase of a factory from a European institution, where the project is the sole collateral, and the borrower repays the factory's value with an added percentage and a fixed profit?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

If an institution lends a person money to purchase a project with interest, this is clear usury (riba), whether the interest is a fixed amount or a percentage of the profit. However, if it is a Murabaha contract and the institution stipulates the pledging of the project as collateral to guarantee its right to recover the price in case of inability to pay, there is a difference of opinion regarding the validity of this, and the preponderant view is permissibility. The Islamic Fiqh Academy has permitted the seller to stipulate the pledging of the sold item to guarantee deferred installments. There is no harm in paying the price in installments, but the problem lies in the aforementioned increase and the fixed percentage of profit. If the increase is part of the project's price, there is no harm. However, if it is a stipulated increase for delayed payment, it is forbidden usury. The same applies to a fixed percentage of profit due to its ambiguity and the gharar (excessive uncertainty) involved.

Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026

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