Selling house on mortgage to a non-Muslim Fatwa No: 358774
- Fatwa Date:27-12-2017
Assalaamu alaykum. I would like to ask whether it is permissible to sell a home in USA to a non-Muslim buyer who will buy it with a mortgage, knowing that the name of the bank and the type of loan is written in the selling contract. My husband asked a sheikh in the masji,d and he told him that we would thus be helping and encouraging the buyer to use interest, because this information is written in the contract. Whatever the answer is, could you kindly support the answer with evidence? May Allah reward you.
All perfect praise be to Allah, the Lord of the worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allah and that Muhammad, sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, is His slave and Messenger.
If the buyer's engagement in an interest-based contract, whether he is a Muslim or non-Muslim, depends on the seller's approval and his signing of these papers, then the most likely correct view is that it is impermissible to do so because it involves helping others commit a prohibited action. Allah, the Exalted, says (what means): {And cooperate in righteousness and piety, but do not cooperate in sin and aggression...} [Quran 5:2]
The Prophet, sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, cursed ten with regards to alcohol, "The one who presses it, the one who orders its pressing, its drinker, its carrier, the one whom it is carried to, its server, its seller, the one who consumes its price, the one who buys it, and the one whom it is bought for." [At-Tirmithi - Ibn Maajah graded it Saheeh (sound)]
Shaykhul-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah commented on this hadeeth, saying, "...The same applies to every sale, Ijaarah (lease/hiring), gift, or loan that constitutes cooperation in committing sin if the sinful intent is evident, even if the intent of committing the sin may cease to exist..."
The Permanent Committee of Fatwa was asked about the ruling on printing introductory letters for some people associated with the university to help them obtain a loan from the Bank of Cairo ... knowing that the bank adds 10% of the loan as interest to the value of the loan. The Committee's answer was as follows, "This printing is not permissible, nor is writing such introductory letters if the letter holder and the printer know that the letter is being issued to assist in an interest-based transaction..."
Allah knows best.