and for the lender to benefit from the other’s property for as long as the dirhams remain owed to him, returning the property when the dirhams are repaid, then this is undoubtedly forbidden. This is an exchange of dirhams for an equal amount of dirhams plus the use of the house, which is manifest usury.
The scholars agree that whenever a lender stipulates an increase over his loan, this is forbidden. The same applies when there is a prior understanding to that effect, according to the sounder of the scholars’ two opinions. It is authentically reported that the Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—said:
“It is not lawful to combine a loan with a sale, to impose two conditions in one sale, to profit from something for which one has not assumed liability, or to sell what one does not possess.”
The Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—forbade combining a loan with a sale because, when someone lends to another and also sells to him, he grants him favourable terms in the sale on account of the loan. The same applies when he combines a lease with a sale to him.
The transaction they outwardly present as a sale subject to redemption—in which they agree that the buyer will return the item sold whenever the seller brings him the price—is invalid by agreement of the imams, whether this is stipulated in the contract or agreed upon beforehand, according to the sounder of the scholars’ two opinions. In such a case, the property must be returned to its owner and the money to its owner. Both parties must receive discretionary punishment if they knew that it was forbidden.
The prohibition of a loan that yields a benefit is established through reports from several of the Companions mentioned by the questioner, as well as others, such as ‘Abd Allāh ibn Salām and Anas ibn Mālik. A report to this effect has also been traced back to the Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—and was transmitted by Ibn Mājah and others.
In Sahīh al-Bukhārī, ‘Abd Allāh ibn Salām is reported to have said:
“You are in a land where usury is widespread. If you give a man a loan and he gives you a load of straw or a load of