Question Four: What is the ruling on some gold shops requiring a person who sells them used gold to purchase new gold from them?

Answer: This practice is likewise impermissible, for it is merely a ploy to sell gold for gold with an excess. Such stratagems are prohibited in the Islamic law because they are a form of deception and tampering with the rulings of Allah.

Question Five: Must an agency (wakalah) agreement between gold-shop owners be concluded verbally, or is it sufficient for one of them, according to their usual custom, simply to take the item on the understanding that he will sell it at the agreed-upon price?

Answer: Agency is a contractual arrangement that is established by whatever indicates it, whether by word or by deed. Thus, if it is the recognized custom among shopkeepers that when a customer comes to one of them who does not stock the desired item, he goes to his neighbor and takes the item on the basis that