Is it permissible to speculate in gold (buying and selling gold over the phone while the gold and money remain with the merchant)?

The sale and purchase of gold with banknotes falls under the category of Sarf (currency exchange), and it is a condition that possession be taken in the contract session.

If the merchant will buy and sell gold as an agent for the questioner from another party, there is no harm, as agency in Sarf is permissible by scholarly consensus.

However, if the merchant will buy and sell from himself as an agent for the questioner, the majority of jurists prohibit this due to the impermissibility of the one who takes possession and the one who gives possession being the same. Nevertheless, the Hanbalis consider the agent's taking possession from himself for himself with the permission of his principal to be valid, even in Sarf.

If the gold is crafted jewelry, some scholars hold that it thereby ceases to be a currency and becomes a commodity, to which the rulings of Sarf do not apply.