Can I Buy Items on Credit Without Fixing a Date?

Answered by Mawlana Ilyas Patel

Question

Can I Buy Items on Credit Without Fixing a Date?

Answer

In the Name of Allah, the Most Merciful and Compassionate

I pray you are in good faith and health. Thank you for your question.

Generally, a seller can allow a buyer to delay payment, but the date has to be fixed and known so it does not lead to any dispute. This deferment is legally permitted, and the payment is known as deferred. However, if the seller (in this case, the shopkeeper) lets the buyer defer payment without specifying a payment date based on trust, that is also permissible.

Whoever sells with immediate payment then postpones it for a known period it becomes deferred (mu’ajjal). [Maydani, Al-Lubab Fi Sharh al-Kitab]

Reward for One who Eases Someone’s Debt

Hudhaifa (Allah be pleased with him) reported from the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace), “A long time before you, the angels received the soul of a man and asked him, ‘Did you do any good deeds (in your life)?’ He replied, ‘I used to order my employees to grant time to the rich person to pay his debts at his convenience.’ So Allah said to the angels, “Excuse him.” Rib’i said that (the dead man said), ‘I used to be easy to the rich and grant time to the poor.’ Or, in another narration, ‘grant time to the well-off and forgive the needy,’ or, ‘accept from the well-off and forgive the needy.’ [Bukhari]

Burayda ibn al-Aslami (Allah be pleased with him) reported that the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) said, “Whoever grants respite to one in a difficult debt, he will have a reward of charity for each day. Whoever grants him respite after payment is due, he will have the like of it in charity for each day.” [Ibn Maja]

I would like you to go through the valuable answers and links below. You will receive guidance and direction in sha Allah.

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I pray this helps answer your question.

[Mawlana] Ilyas Patel

Checked and Approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani

Mawlana Ilyas Patel has received traditional education in various countries. He started his schooling in the UK and completed his hifz of the Quran in India. After that, he joined an Islamic seminary in the UK, where he studied secular and Aalimiyya sciences. Later, he traveled to Karachi, Pakistan, and other Middle Eastern countries to further his education. Mawlana has served as an Imam in the Republic of Ireland for several years and taught the Quran and other Islamic sciences to both children and adults. He also worked as a teacher and librarian at a local Islamic seminary in the UK for 12 years. Presently, he lives in the UK with his wife and is interested in books and gardening.