Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah said: “It is permissible in cases of need.” Thus, he adopted a middle position between the two views. How is it permissible in cases of need?

For example, someone sells him wheat for dirhams payable after one year. When the term falls due and the seller comes to the buyer to collect the dirhams, the buyer says: “I am a farmer and have no dirhams”—what people call, in commercial usage, liquidity—“but I have dates.” This is a case of need. So he says: “I will take the dates instead of the dirhams.” According to Shaykh al-Islam’s view, this is permissible.

Thus, there are three opinions on the matter:

• The first: absolute prohibition.
• The second: unconditional permissibility.
• The third: permissibility in cases of need.

In my view, this is the best of the opinions, in order to ward off suspicion and so that the door is not opened for others. We may not engage in this as a legal stratagem, but others may resort to stratagems.

One condition remains, which is necessary according to the view that permits it: the one receiving payment must not make a profit. We derive this condition from the Prophet’s statement in the hadith of Ibn ‘Umar, may Allah be pleased with them both: “There is no harm in taking them at the exchange rate of that day” (1). We also derive it from the Prophet’s prohibition of “profiting from that for which one has not assumed liability” (2); that is, he prohibited making a profit from something for which one has not borne liability.