Is It Permissible for My Husband to Purchase a Piece of Jewelry I Had Previously Made an Agreement About?

Answered by Shaykh Yusuf Weltch

Question

I visited a gold shop, liked a piece of jewelry, and asked the workers to keep it for me while I checked other stores. Later, I decided to buy the first piece and called the shop to confirm it was still available. My husband purchased it for me. Was this a valid and halal transaction?

Answer

In the Name of Allah, the Most Merciful and Compassionate

Yes. The transaction in which your husband purchased the piece of jewelry is valid. This is because the transaction fulfills all the legal criteria of a valid transaction. [Quduri]

There are two separate issues in your question. The first is the agreement between you and the jeweler that they would keep the piece of jewelry for you.

Agreements are Promises

This agreement is legally considered a promise and is not contractually binding. That does not preclude the importance of upholding promises.

The fact that it was your husband who came to buy the item (seemingly) on your behalf, would absolve the jeweler of breaking the promise customarily speaking.

A Valid Transaction

The second issue relates to the transaction itself. Seeing that you had no contractual right to the item, it is the jeweler’s right to sell the item to whoever he pleases.

Therefore, the transaction is not affected by your previous agreement.

Hope this helps
Allah knows best
[Shaykh] Yusuf Weltch
Checked and Approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani

Shaykh Yusuf Weltch teaches Arabic, Islamic law, and spirituality. After accepting Islam in 2008, he completed four years at the Darul Uloom Seminary in New York, where he studied Arabic and the traditional sciences.

He then traveled to Tarim, Yemen, where he studied for three years in Dar al-Mustafa under some of the most outstanding scholars of our time, including Habib Umar Bin Hafiz, Habib Kadhim al-Saqqaf, and Shaykh Umar al-Khatib.

In Tarim, Shaykh Yusuf completed the memorization of the Quran and studied beliefs, legal methodology, hadith methodology, Quranic exegesis, Islamic history, and several texts on spirituality. He joined the SeekersGuidance faculty in the summer of 2019.