Fatwa ID: 09246
Answered by Mufti Sakib Shadman
Question:
In places where the economy is cash based, the value of non cash forms of the currency is lower than cash, due to various factors such as limits on withdrawals, transfer charges.
A typical example is in Zimbabwe, electronic funds attract a transaction fee on whichever platform you (PoS or EFT), then a fixed 2% government tax off all electronic payments. Then a withdrawal charge (whilst withdrawals have daily, weekly and monthly limits)
So a business accepting electronic funds as payments will need to factor these as input costs (since using them to pay onwards will attract these costs).
Whereas a cash business can doesn’t have these issues.
This leads to people then trading their electronic funds for cash at a premium (to access bulk cash and use onwards)
You also need cash for your offshore payments. If you deposit cash the banks treat it as _cash_ and process offshore payments easily.
EFT funds don’t get treated as _cash_ by the bank and offshore payments don’t get honoured easily and in fact now there is extra charges for non-cash deposit payments requests.
So if officially it is treated differently, can we treat is as different currencies?
In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful
Answer:
In cash-based economies, different forms of the same currency may end up having different practical values due to withdrawal limits, transfer charges, government taxes, or difficulties in processing payments. This naturally leads businesses to cost their goods differently depending on the payment method. It is Islamically permissible for a merchant to set one price for cash and another for electronic payment, just as one may charge different prices for cash and credit sales.[1, 2]
However, exchanging electronic funds for cash at a premium opens the door to Riba (interest). Even if electronic EFT funds and physical cash have different market behaviours and value, they are still considered two forms of the same currency (the same “jins”/category), just with different attributes (وَصف). Because they belong to the same category, they must be exchanged in equal amounts and on the spot, despite their differing attributes. Introducing a discrepancy by exchanging EFT funds for cash at a premium is tantamount to Riba al-Fadl (interest due to discrepancy in amounts exchanged).[3]
In conclusion, while the market may treat electronic balances and physical cash differently, and banks may impose different rules and costs on each, this does not make them different currencies or categories. Their differing practical values do not change their underlying classification. Therefore, trading EFT funds for cash at a premium is not permissible. Even if the market value of EFT funds is lower in practice, the exchange must still be equal in amount and immediate, to avoid Riba.[4]
Only Allah ﷻ knows best.
Written by Mufti Sakib Shadman
Checked and approved by Mufti Mohammed Tosir Miah
Darul Ifta Birmingham
References:
[1]
قَالَ (وَيَجُوزُ الْبَيْعُ بِثَمَنٍ حَالٍّ وَمُؤَجَّلٍ إذَا كَانَ الْأَجَلُ مَعْلُومًا) لِإِطْلَاقِ قَوْله تَعَالَى
ص261 – كتاب فتح القدير للكمال بن الهمام ط الحلبي – كتاب البيوع – المكتبة الشاملة
[2]
(ويجوز البيع بثمن حال) وهو الأصل (ومؤجل، إذا كان الأجل معلوما) لئلا يفضي إلى المنازعة، وهذا إذا بيع بخلاف جنسه
ولم يجمعهما
قدر؛ لما فيه من ربا النساء كما سيجئ، وابتداء الأجل من وقت التسليم، ولو فيه خيار فمذ سقوطه عنده. خانية: ويبطل الأجل
بموت المديون
لا الدائن
ص6 – اللباب في شرح الكتاب – كتاب البيوع – المكتبة الشاملة
[3]
لِأَنَّ الرِّبَا هُوَ الْفَضْلُ الْمُسْتَحَقُّ لِأَحَدِ الْمُتَعَاقِدَيْنِ فِي الْمُعَاوَضَةِ الْخَالِي عَنْ عِوَضِ شَرْطٍ فِيهِ) أَيْ فِي الْعَقْدِ، وَعَلِمْت أَنَّ الْخُلُوَّ فِي الْمُعَاوَضَةِ لَا يَتَحَقَّقُ إلَّا عِنْدَ الْمُقَابَلَةِ بِالْجِنْسِ فَلَزِمَ مَا قُلْنَا مِنْ الْكَيْلِ أَوْ الْوَزْنِ مَعَ الْجِنْسِ (وَلَمْ يُعْتَبَرْ) فِي إثْبَاتِ الْمُمَاثَلَةِ عَدَمُ تَفَاوُتِ (الْوَصْفِ) إمَّا (لِأَنَّهُ لَا يُعَدُّ تَفَاوُتًا عُرْفًا) وَفِيهِ نَظَرٌ (أَوْ لِأَنَّ فِي اعْتِبَارِهِ سَدَّ بَابِ الْبِيَاعَاتِ) وَهُوَ الْوَجْهُ لِأَنَّهُ قَلَّمَا يَخْلُو عِوَضَانِ مِنْ جِنْسٍ عَنْ تَفَاوُتٍ مَا فَلَمْ يُعْتَبَرْ
ص8 – كتاب فتح القدير للكمال بن الهمام ط الحلبي – باب الربا – المكتبة الشاملة
[4]
والربا في اللغة الفضل والزيادة والعلو (٤)، وفي الاصطلاح الزيادة المشروطة في العقد -وهذا إنما يكون عند المقابلة بالجنس
ص206 – كتاب المسائل الفقهية التي عليها الفتوى عند متأخري الحنفية جمعا ودراسة – التمهيد التعريف بمفردات عنوان البحث – المكتبة الشاملة