Ask Shaykh YQ – Episode 19 – Are Credit Cards Haram

Yasir Qadhi

Date:

Channel: Yasir Qadhi

Series:

File Size: 14.27MB

Share Page

Related

WARNING!!! AI generated text may display inaccurate or offensive information that doesn’t represent Muslim Central's views. Therefore, no part of this transcript may be copied or referenced or transmitted in any way whatsoever.

AI Generated Transcript ©


00:00:00--> 00:00:14

A person says that he heard a fatwa that it is how long to have a credit card. So, he wants to know is it allowed to have a credit card or not j? So, let us now answer this question

00:00:15--> 00:00:15

one

00:00:20--> 00:00:20

any game

00:00:22--> 00:00:27

in Florida No, II know

00:00:33--> 00:01:17

before I begin I want to state that when it comes to Islamic Finance and we will be answering many questions over the course inshallah of the next few months and years, however long Allah gives us this opportunity, when it comes to Islamic Finance, what I have discovered in my answering questions Is that a lot of us Muslims, we have already made up our minds before listening to any scholar or any show, we already have a clear in our minds black and whites how Raman Heller, and when a person comes and gives any opinion that is not in accordance with the one they have already heard. Rather than thinking and listening, they immediately dismissed Oh, you must be not knowledgeable, or you

00:01:17--> 00:01:59

must be one of those progressives wanting to water Islam down. This is not the way listen and listen to authority and listen to who is saying this. If you come with preconceived notions, what's the purpose of asking a question, listen and see what your allama have to say about our times and realize that economic issues modern Islamic Finance, it is one of the most diverse and hotly contested issues. And it is not something that is black and white, it is something that is great. For most of the questions that are being asked, it's a gray area. So anybody who has never studied Islamic finance thinks he knows the answer. I'm 100%. European, it shows that he doesn't have any

00:01:59--> 00:02:42

actual studying. And he's simply making an assumption great. odema say Allahu Allah, but I think this might be the case. And somebody who has never studied has made up his mind. This is Adam and this has had so keep this point in mind that be open minded Islamic finance is a very diverse field. And there's a lot of views on this issue. Now, the issue of Riba there is no question and there is no controversy that giving somebody money for as a loan and demanding more back is the essence of Riba and it is one of the major sins and it is one of the seven deadly sins of Allah with God. And it is the only sin regarding which Allah has said in the Quran, there will be how to be min Allah He

00:02:42--> 00:03:28

was truly there is no difference of opinion that giving somebody money, here's $1,000 you need a loan, but give me back 1100 there is no estimate of that this is one of the major sins of Islam that is in the same category as murder and other crimes. However, with that, having been said also realize that there are a number of traditions that are ascribed to the Prophet solar system that are commonly heard and said, but in reality are not authentic. The Quran is enough and authentic hadith in Bukhari and Muslim is enough to tell us to do but is a danger. We have to be careful we don't now rate a Hadid that have no basis or are very weak, and of them is the one that is commonly told by

00:03:28--> 00:04:07

the people that are 72 categories that are of Riba the least of them is like committing Zina openly with your mother or the other below whether you are the villa Edna Josie, in his famous book about weak ID, he mentioned a number of these a hadith that committing doing Riba is worse than this and worse than that, he mentioned a number of them. And he says, All of these are weak or fabricated. And he then says, How can taking the slightest amount of Riba I will do will be equal to having dinner with your mother. It doesn't. It's not even logical. And he goes that Zina, it breaks up families and creates children that are illegal in this and that are illegitimate, whereas Riba the

00:04:07--> 00:04:44

harm is to yourself, whereas then the harm is to society, how can the to be the same? And the famous scholar and why limit he commented, these ahaadeeth are not from the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam and the scholar in Djibouti, and one of our teachers, he said, these types of ahaadeeth are from the fabrications of those who used to tell stories, not from the scholars of Hadith. So you have to be careful, the Quran is enough. We don't need these bizarre traditions that don't make sense. And that frankly, even the mind rejects even before looking at the it's not and it's not so these are a week now. As for the issue of Riba

00:04:46--> 00:05:00

being on the receiving end, not on the giving end or in not taking, not giving a loan, but having taken a loan. Realize that from the very beginning of time, there has been a dissenting voice primarily

00:05:00--> 00:05:41

amount of honey for a moment album, the great scholar, he would have a position that his students supported and defended. And to this day, the Hanafi school is between these some of them, except some of them don't, which is that this his position, I'm simply telling you to be aware of it, that in his view, Muslims living as minorities would be allowed to deal with Riba in the minority situation, not in the majority situation. And he defended that view. And he has a long way of arguing and I don't want to get into there. Now, that's one method. The other three rejected this. And they said, No, the Sharia is the same in Pakistan, as it is in America. And we should not change

00:05:41--> 00:06:10

just because of our culture. And this is what I hold as well, by the way, but you should be aware, there has been a view not from some strange scholar from Mr. Moon album himself. And he has some very sound logic, if you read his logic, he was a great intellectual, and he is arguing in a way that, in some ways, is very convincing. But then the flip side is, look, the shady as the same. Doesn't matter if you're in this land or that land, it should be the same. So the other three did not agree with this. Now, I agree with us the majority as well. However,

00:06:11--> 00:06:33

almost all of our scholars, and especially our modern scholars, they are pretty much in agreement are modern scholars that giving a loan of Riba is not the same level of how long as accepting alone and having to pay it about on it both are out on both or how long, but the liner in the Koran is about category one, category two?

00:06:35--> 00:07:21

Do you guys understand the difference? giving somebody money and demanding more that's done will be heard of him in a law he was sued. And that is sub l movies courts. As for taking the loan, and giving more back? There's no doubt that this is a sin, but not to the level of category one. Now what difference is to make, not to the level? I'll tell you why. In the Sharia, there is a good principle, everybody agrees upon it, that necessity, or difficult circumstances allow the haraam to become hell, as we all know this, when it comes to eating pork, or we all know when you're about to die, and there's nothing to eat, we all know, right? ilimitado to LA. Now, here's the point, please

00:07:21--> 00:07:23

pay attention to this.

00:07:24--> 00:07:26

When deciding

00:07:27--> 00:07:35

at what level of difficulty to heroin becomes highlighted, we look at two things. Number one, the level of harm.

00:07:36--> 00:07:39

And number two, the level of difficulty

00:07:40--> 00:07:58

put together a scholar, not an average Muslim, a scholar will then contextualize and say, Okay, this level of how long is not to this level. So therefore, we can contextualize let me give you a simple example. Somebody dying from hunger,

00:07:59--> 00:08:01

somebody dying from hunger.

00:08:02--> 00:08:06

And he has the option of eating maita dead meat.

00:08:08--> 00:08:20

And he has the option of eating. So dead meat, he finds a cow on the side of the road, it's been killed accidentally not as like, you know, just dead cow. And he finds a pig. Both are how long?

00:08:22--> 00:08:24

Which one is you're going to reserve to resort to first?

00:08:25--> 00:08:39

The cow. Why? Because the level of idiom of the dead cow is not to the level of tedium of the dead pig. Do you understand this right? Now another scene I'm just giving hypothetically at the point to another scenario, a person's dying.

00:08:40--> 00:08:54

Or a person's threatened a gun is put to his head. And the person says, unless you steal from this man, I will kill you. You take his wallet, you have to pick pocket. If you don't do that, I will kill you. I'm just giving you a scenario.

00:08:55--> 00:09:18

Pretty much most scholars would say, if he wants to take this option, he can take the pickpocket and give him the wallet and he will be excused on Judgement Day. Now, suppose the same person puts the gun and says you have to kill that person or else I will kill you. All of our scholars say no, he cannot do that. Because the level of pickpocketing is nowhere near the level of

00:09:19--> 00:09:59

killing somebody. And in no circumstance is your life more precious than the other life. You can never be forced to commit murder, you will die before you commit murder. I'm giving you a hypothetical example. So you understand the principle, the principle or another example. Somebody says, oh, pickpocket that person, or I'm gonna slap you across the face. A slap is not a gun to the head. Do you understand what I'm trying to do too. I'm trying to give you the scenarios of the level of outcome and the level of difficulty so that you understand it's not a black and white issue. Now who gets to decide the item not the one involved because the one involved has a selfish interest.

00:09:59--> 00:10:00

You go to

00:10:00--> 00:10:38

Third party and contextualize So, the one receiving the loan is not the same as the one giving the loan hence the level of difficulty the bar is not as high as the one who has to give you see the point here now I know this leads to the issue of mortgages and houses believe me it is like the number two question I've been asked we will get there and I will give you a detailed answer whenever that happens today we're asking about credit cards so, we're not going to talk about mortgages and and whatnot today. So credit card the issue being that in a credit card, are you giving the money or are you receiving a loan and then have to pay Which one is it? The second which is the lower

00:10:38--> 00:11:18

category you guys follow where I'm coming from, right? Okay. The credit concept theoretically is valid. Suppose I'm going to a shopping center and Mashallah your mom Nadeem is with me Mashallah subotica and mom Nadeem has a lot of money in his wallet. Marshall is devata cola. I don't have anything, right. And we go to Brother Mustapha shop. And I realize I don't have any money. I say, Oh, I don't have any money. Mr. Sub Can you pay? Third party? Can you pay on my behalf? And You have my word? My credit? My honor. You know, me, and I will pay you back tomorrow is this hella

00:11:19--> 00:12:01

by unanimous consensus has had the concept of a third party credit is hella right. And there is no doubt that the more trustworthy a person is, the more people will be willing to pay for him. If I have asked him to do 10 times and never paid him back on the 11th time, if he pays, then he's the one that's not acting rationally, my credit score is now in the negative. So there's no problem, a person's credit score a person's reliability, this is all something that is heroin. So the concept of a third party taking charges and you know what, Mr. Merchant, we will pay you your money on behalf of Imam Saab here, don't worry, we trust him. We know his credit score, that Check, check,

00:12:01--> 00:12:46

check. Hello, hello, hello. Where does the problem come? We all know it's in one clause in the whole contract. The problem is not in the contract. The problem is not in the theoretical, you know, construct of a third party paying on credit, that's not a problem. That is completely legit. The problem in all of those five pages that you sign, there is one clause in there that says that in case you do not pay back within the 25 days or 30 days, then no problem. We want you to actually not pay because we will charge you Riba we all know, that's where the credit companies make money, Jay. So this leads us to our next major controversy in a solid film. And that is, what do you do if a

00:12:46--> 00:13:27

contract is valid, but one condition is invalid. This is a famous controversy goes back to the time of the Sahaba. It is called a shuttle facet, or the incorrect shot the incorrect clause. And some of the tablet, they said the whole contract is belted. And most of the time and this is what the people pretty much agreed upon is like no, look, you can't invalidate the whole contract because of one clause, that clause should be invalid, and the contract is valid. Therefore, theoretically, if we sign this document with a credit card company, theoretically, if tomorrow, all of the rulings of this country were made into *ty rulings, and then we went to a court of law and Islamic Sharia

00:13:28--> 00:14:05

courts of law, they looked at the contract, the majority of scholars would say, Oh, the contract is fine. Oh, but this one paragraph, deleted out and get rid of it. A shout out to Bothell, we'll have to do so here. This is the majority interpretation. And this is what across Islamic centuries, people have done and this is proven explicitly in the famous Hadith, but I'm not going to go into it. But I wanted to free a slave and the people who wanted to offend she paid money for that, that people wanted to free the slave they wanted to add an incorrect condition. And voila, Oh, man. It's too complicated. Explain. So basically, the Profit System said that that sharp is not valid, and

00:14:05--> 00:14:12

burrito will be fried. So he allowed the contract to go through and he made no, what

00:14:13--> 00:14:46

are you guys understanding the point he made? No, that one clause, you understand this point, right? You can look it up the edited video, it's a bit more it's a different topic altogether. So from this, the majority of scholars and this is the correct opinions, the one that people have acted upon is the common sense one, like you don't invalidate the whole contract because of an incorrect clause. So we are not living in an Islamic land, the Sharia tribunal courts are not here. What do we do now, here is where we get to the final point. Given all that has proceeded, that you are the one taking the loan that in essence the contract is valid, that theoretically everything would be fine

00:14:46--> 00:14:59

except for this one issue. And given the fact that for some people, credit cards, make life very easy and not having that would make life extremely burdensome.

00:15:00--> 00:15:34

The majority position from the fifth Council of Europe of North America of amager of most of our scholars in the world, even of Serbia, and all and many countries, this is the I don't know of any difference amongst any of the councils of Roma. And please, for modern issues go to the council's don't just go to one chef in the middle of nowhere, go to the collective bodies that have groups of people that discuss back and forth, even, um, Joe which is generally on the more strict side of things that I respect that about Amgen, I'm a member of I'm just I'm not being harsh here. I attend Amgen once in a while even um, Joe on its website has the same photo and you can read it and I

00:15:34--> 00:15:43

checked it an hour ago just to make sure that it is there. And essentially, it is the same all of these committees have the same ruling. What is it? What else sort of code if a person

00:15:44--> 00:15:53

is in need, not a life and death situation but life would become quite cumbersome without a credit card? Pause you.

00:15:54--> 00:16:07

This means it's not an open license. It's not a green light. It's a yellow light. People have to look at themselves. Some people live very simple, modest lives, they go to work, they go to grocery they pay the rent, and that's it.

00:16:09--> 00:16:13

Why would they need a credit card debit cards will do fine and cash will do find and checks will do fine.

00:16:14--> 00:17:04

Other people and I am one of them travel all the time and they need to rent cars, I'm renting a car in three days I'm going somewhere they need to prepay hotels, most hotels do not accept debit cards. Almost all hotels do not accept prepaid. Many cards you need an actual credit card. The amount of traveling that a traveler does like myself, I know from my own experience, it would not be possible to do what I'm doing without a credit card. So not everybody's life is the same. Those who need the credit card. Now I go on not everybody. Those who feel that life would be very difficult without that the fatwa says they are allowed to take one with the extensive Yani firm nelia that they will

00:17:04--> 00:17:07

never exceed what they're able to pay number one.

00:17:09--> 00:17:47

And number two, they will always pay on time. And so they have to be extra conscientious. They have to monitor now the burden is on them. They don't want to fall into the bar even if it's on the other side. So with these two conditions that are three actually number one, you really need it. It's not just an open license for anybody. Number two that you never purchase more than you can pay by the end of the month. You don't take advantage realize the credit card companies, they dangle more credit in front of you because they want you to go into debt. That's how they make their money. They you can only pay 1000 they give you 2000 credit Why? Oh you see that nice this nice. Let me buy it

00:17:47--> 00:18:27

and then you can't pay it. What do you do, you end up paying double triple over 1015 years. That's what the credit card companies want. We don't want that. So we try our best. Not just try that is our sincere intention. We never purchase more than what is on our budget. And we make it sincere effort we will pay on time and these days and hamdulillah you actually have automatic payments on most credit cards you don't even have to sign up to write a check you literally just put it on and it pays automatically therefore with these three conditions met the standard position or pretty much all the scholar the committee's is that it is permissible to have a credit card for those who don't

00:18:27--> 00:18:38

they should not and they should restrict themselves to debit cards or to cheques or to prepaid and that's not a good thing that many average shops not not

00:18:39--> 00:19:10

car rental companies and not hotels. But if you go to any store and you have a loaded credit card, you know what they are not a credit card, a loaded prepaid prepaid card you know you can buy them from Walgreens you can buy them from anywhere in Amazon or visa whatever you put on cash you pay cash, you say here's 500 load this for 500. Now it becomes like a simple debit card. So for those who don't definitely you should take advantage of these words. For those who need to the initial load data it is allowed with essential load data we conclude

00:19:17--> 00:19:19

in a feed dounia Salah

00:19:27--> 00:19:28

Lee