Fatwa No : 80265
Seeking to repay the debt given on cash against the existing rate of gold

Seeking to repay the debt given on cash against the existing rate of gold

What do scholars say about the issue of whether gold can be used as basis in a loan transaction? For example, a person goes to another to borrow one hundred thousand rupees. The other person agrees to lend, but he says that he does not consider paper currency as a commodity. “Nowadays, value of three tolas of gold is equivalent to one hundred thousand rupees. You take cash equal to three tolas of gold from me. When you repay the money, return me the amount equivalent to three tolas of gold. We will do our transaction based on the value of gold, not paper currency”. Can gold be used as a basis in a loan transaction? Can paper currency be considered as a commodity?

الجوابُ حامِدا ًو مُصلیِّا ً

It should be noted that the repayment and payment of a loan should be done on the same item, therefore, it is necessary to return what was borrowed. It is not permissible to ask for the price of gold at the current value after giving a cash loan. This must be avoided. While there is no doubt in the Sharia and rationally of the fact that cash is a commodity, however, if the mode of thought of the person about, cash as a commodity, is written down, then this can also be looked into.

مأخَذُ الفَتوی

كما في الفتاوى الهندية: لو استقرض من آخر حنطة فأعطى مثلها بعدما تغير سعرها فإنه يجبر المقرض على القبول كذا في مختار الفتاوى اھ (3/ 202)
وفي تكمله فتح الملھم: وأما الأوراق النقدية (إلى قوله) فلا يجوز مبادلة الأوراق النقدية بجنسها متفاضلة اھ (۱/ ۵۹۰)۔