What is the ruling on selling in installments when there is a difference in price between cash and installment sales, such as when a merchant says that the price of the commodity is one hundred pounds in cash and one hundred and twenty pounds in installments? Is this considered usury (riba)? And if a person buys a commodity for cash and then sells it to a customer at the original installment price, is this considered prohibited usury?
If a person buys a commodity for cash and then sells it at a profit or loss, there is no harm, provided that he truly possesses the commodity before selling it. It is forbidden to sell food before taking possession of it, by scholarly consensus, due to the Prophet’s (peace be upon him) prohibition of that, when he said: “Whoever buys food, let him not sell it until he takes possession of it.”
Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026
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