Bayʿ al-wafaʾ is in reality a pledge

Question

Question: (1) Owing to some need of his, Zayd sold his cultivated land to ʿUmar on the condition that, within a fixed period of three years, whenever I have the money and wish to take it, ʿUmar will have to return this land for the same stated price, and there will be no decrease or increase in the price. If within the fixed period Zayd cannot raise the money and the period ends, then this land will be regarded as permanently sold to ʿUmar himself.

Answer

(1) This is bayʿ al-wafaʾ. There is a detailed discussion of it in Radd al-Muhtar. The preferred view is that in form it is a sale, but in its ruling (hukm) it is a pledge; therefore deriving benefit from it is not correct: [ar]كل قرض جر نفعا حرام[/ar] “Every loan that draws a benefit is haram” (al-Durr al-Mukhtar). (2) Its ruling is the same as that stated under no. 1. (3)

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

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