Fatwa ID: 02011
Answered by Mufti Mohammed Tosir Miah
Question:
Dear Mufti Sahib
Assalamu Alaikum!
I am working as a travel agent for my company whereby I have to contact another travel agency who books airline tickets for our employees.
In order to pay off their dues we provide them with check with a week long clearing.
Now we want to purchase tickets from them on one month credit. But they are saying that they charge extra on a month's credit like if actual ticket fare is PKR 25, 500/- if it is purchased on credit on a month's time then they will charge around PKR 28,000/- for the same ticket.
Is this extra money an interest amount for them or is it absolutely correct to sell something on cash on exact amount and on credit with extra amount?
Will it make my job Haraam as well as I am playing a central role between two parties i.e. travel agency & my company, will my earning be Halaal though I have other responsibilities as well apart from above which I think are purely Halaal?
Answer:
Saaiduna Abu Hurairah 
narrates that the Prophet of Allah 
forbade from contracting two transactions in one transaction.” (Sunan Tirmizi p.233 v.1)
Some scholars have interpreted the aforementioned hadith to a situation where the price of the item is unclear. For example, when one says: I sell you this book for ten pounds if the payment is in cash, and for twenty if the payment is deferred, and the buyer just says “I have accepted” without making it clear which transaction he has accepted, then this will be impermissible. However, if the buyer specifies one of the transactions then there is nothing wrong with that.” (Taqrir Tirmizi p.102 v.1)
Regarding your question, if at the time of the agreement, the seller fixed a specific price for the delay in payment and this fixed price does not increase, if he defaults on the payment and the buyer agrees to this before he leaves the gathering, then this would be permissible and the subsequent income you are gaining will be lawful.
Only Allah Knows Best
Mohammed Tosir Miah
Darul Ifta Birmingham.
