Paying For Gold In Advance And Receiving It Later

· 27 Jumada II 1443 AH1 min readEnglish
Business DealingsTransaction And Trade

Question

As far as gold is concerned, does the gold have to be paid for and received in one sitting?

Gold price fluctuates by the minute.

We have to book coins and pay for it in advance by one day, sometimes two. Is this legit?

That is we pay now and get delivery tomorrow, based on the current price. If the supplier has it in stock, they supply us from their own stock. If they don’t have, they order from the refinery. We pay them the price at the moment of our transaction. They pay the refinery based on the price at the time of their transaction with the refinery.

Answer

In principle, if one is selling gold for gold or silver for silver, it is necessary that Qabdha (possession) takes place during the transaction from both parties and therefore, to sell it as credit will be impermissible.

However, when one is buying gold in exchange for other currencies, such as dollars or Rands, it will be permissible to pay for the gold in advance and then receive the gold at a later stage with the following conditions:

a. Possession from one side must take place during the transaction. In our scenario, one must pay at the current moment in dollars or Rands in lieu of the gold that he will receive later on.

b. The time of receival of the gold must be stipulated.

Therefore, based on the above-mentioned, the method in which you are buying the gold is permissible.

References (Arabic / Urdu sources)

(الفتاوى الهندية) ج٣ ص ١٧ ٢

(اللباب في شرح الكتاب) ج١ ص٢٢٨

(رد المحتار) ج 5 ص 180

(رد المحتار) ج 5 ص259

Approved by
Mufti Muhammed Saeed Motara Saheb D.B.
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