said, “Dirhams for dirhams, with a silk garment in between.” (1) This is known as an ʿīnah transaction, because the man gave a tangible commodity and received a tangible commodity; and the tangible monetary commodities are gold and silver. It is prohibited, due to the Prophet’s saying, peace and blessings be upon him: “When you engage in ʿīnah transactions, take hold of the tails of cattle, become content with farming, and abandon jihad, Allah will impose upon you a humiliation which He will not remove from your hearts until you return to your religion.” (2)

Thus, it is prohibited. Indeed, it may be considered among the major sins; or it may be said that it is not among the major sins, because the Messenger, peace and blessings be upon him, made it a major sin when these four matters are combined, whereas this is only one of the four. In any case, this hadith indicates a warning against ʿīnah transactions.

Among the forms of ʿīnah, or of resorting to legal stratagems for usury, is what some people do today. A person needs a car, so he goes to a dealer and says, “I need such-and-such a car from such-and-such showroom.” The dealer then goes and buys it from the showroom for a certain price, and sells it to the person who needs the car, on deferred payment, for more than that price. This is an obvious stratagem for usury, because in reality he has lent him the cash price of the car with an increase. Had this man not requested it, he would not have bought it. This is a clear stratagem, even though, unfortunately, many people have become involved in it. But what people do is of no consequence; what matters is applying the rulings in accordance with the revealed texts.

Likewise, another stratagem has also become widespread: the poor person comes to