Tricks do not make Riba (usury) lawful

10-5-2011 | IslamWeb

Question:

I wanted an amount of money, so I transferred the ownership of a piece of land that I own on paper to my brother. After this, I went to an authority that sells on installments and told them that I want to buy this land which is worth 200 thousand Riyals. They agreed to buy it from its owner and sell it to me on installments for 260 thousand Riyals. They would pay 200 thousand to my brother and take ownership of the land and my brother would give me the money, then I would repay the company on installments. Is this Riba? The authority that will sell me the land on installments does not know anything about this.

---

Answer:

All perfect praise be to Allaah, the Lord of the worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, is His Slave and Messenger.

 

This transaction includes two grave violations of Sharee‘ah (Islamic law) rules: resorting to trickery to commit Riba (usury) and cheating. You should know that the trick that you resorted to does not make Riba lawful; on the contrary, it increases its gravity as this is similar to what the Jews did when they made lawful what Allaah The Almighty prohibited through trickery. 

The reality of what you are doing is a Riba-based loan whereby you will take 200 thousand and repay it after a while for 260 thousand. Your brother's participation is void and has no effect.

Hence, you should repent to Allaah The Almighty and give up this loan as no one knows when he will die, so you should not continue with this loan.

Allaah Knows best.