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What is the ruling on selling gold purchased in installments to pay off debts?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

The ruling on selling gold for paper currency varies depending on the type of gold. Unworked gold may not be sold for deferred payment using cash, because paper currencies take the ruling of gold.

As for selling jewelry (worked gold) for paper currency on credit ( deferred payment), the majority of scholars prohibit it. However, others deem it permissible, arguing that the manufacturing process has transformed gold from a currency into a commodity, as maintained by Ibn al-Qayyim and Ibn Taymiyyah. Ibn al-Qayyim's statement is cited: "Permissible jewelry, due to permissible craftsmanship, becomes akin to clothes and commodities, not currencies."

Therefore, if you have purchased worked gold on deferred payment, the contract is invalid according to the majority of scholars, but permissible according to the other opinion. It is possible to adopt the second opinion due to the loss of the subject of the contract, but it is preferable to avoid it as a precautionary measure to steer clear of scholarly disagreement.

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

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