He leased a car to his friend for a fixed sum of money, then sold it to him in installments

14-7-2014 | IslamWeb

Question:

Salaamun alaikum, I bought a vehicle and entered into a transaction with a brother on the condition that he would use it for transportation business. We agreed that he would pay me a specified daily amount and whatever else he makes on top of this belongs to him. Please is this transaction halal or haram ? The brother normally carries out minor repairs of the vehicle like servicing while I do the major repairs. After sometime, he complained that the vehicle is ageing and I reduced the daily amount from 1500 to 800. But just recently he claimed that the normal practise on such vehicle business in Nigeria is to be on higher purchase for a stated amount and period. I think he suggested this at the beginning of our deal but I objected to it as I was not sure of the ruling on higher purchase. After running the business for a while and having paid me "the normal higher purchase price of the vehicle", I think the brother feels I am now exploiting him. So my second question is have I offended the brother in any way ? Thirdly, if I have offended or cheated him, how can I make amends ?

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Answer:

All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, is His slave and messenger.

What we understood from your question and our perception of the transaction is that you leased the car to your friend for a specific and fixed sum of money for each day and then sold it to him afterwards for a fixed price, yet it was more than the price of similar cars. If this is the case, there is no harm in such transaction; the lease and sale transactions are valid and there is no unfairness involved.

However, if you mean something else, please explain the situation in detail in order for us to be able to issue a ruling.

Allaah Knows best.