your principal, neither wronging nor being wronged.”

“If the debtor is in hardship, grant him respite until a time of ease.”

The transaction conducted by a usurer of this kind has the same purpose as the transactions of those polytheistic usurers. However, this man gives it the outward form of a commercial transaction. This does him no good, according to the unanimous agreement of the Companions of Muhammad, may Allah bless him and grant him peace. This usurer sells the debtor that silk on deferred payment so that the debtor may return it to him in settlement of his debt. This is equivalent to selling it to him on deferred payment in order to buy it back for less.

Ibn ‘Abbās was asked about something like this and said, “This is forbidden; Allah and His Messenger have forbidden it.”

Zayd ibn Arqam’s concubine, who had borne him a child, asked ‘Ā’ishah, the Mother of the Believers, about something like this. She said, “I sold Zayd a slave boy for eight hundred dirhams, payable when his stipend was disbursed, then bought him back for six hundred.”

‘Ā’ishah told her, “What an evil purchase you made, and what an evil sale! Tell Zayd that he has nullified his jihad alongside the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, unless he repents.”

She said, “Mother of the Believers, what if I recover only my principal?”

‘Ā’ishah replied:

“Whoever receives an admonition from his Lord and desists may retain what he has already received.”

The Sunan collections report that the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said:

“Whoever concludes two sales in a single transaction is entitled to the lesser of the two prices; otherwise, it is usury.”

The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, also said:

“Combining a loan with a sale is not lawful.”

Thus, he forbade a person to sell and lend in order to obtain favorable terms in the sale on account of the loan.

It is also established in the Sahīh collection that he said:

“Actions are judged only by intentions.”

Thus, if these two parties to the transaction intend to obtain