What is the ruling on selling a part of an apartment under a Murabaha (cost-plus financing) system, equivalent to the remaining amount owed by the questioner, and then repurchasing it with a deferred payment and a known profit, knowing that the questioner does not own any other dwelling, and this is after he failed to obtain a loan to pay the agreed-upon amount to the complex owner who is demanding he vacate the apartment?

It is permissible to sell a portion of what one owns through Murabaha (cost-plus sale) or Musawama (bargaining), but it is not permissible to agree that the seller will repurchase what he sold, because this is a usurious stratagem. This is called "reverse 'Inah", which is to sell a commodity for cash and then buy it back for a higher deferred price. Its reality is taking one hundred to return one hundred and twenty, and this is forbidden according to the majority of scholars. It is stated in Al-Rawd al-Murabba' (a Hanbali text): "And this is the madhhab (school of thought); because it is used as a means to usury, like the issue of 'Inah." This is not permissible unless the commodity changes. The difference between it and 'Inah is that in the former, it is the buyer whose liability becomes engaged.