Question 395
As salaam alaekum warahmatuLah wabarakaatuh

Please ask sheikh this question, may Allah reward him with good and increase him in beneficial knowledge.

Can a deposit (commitment) be collected from a customer before the arrival of a stipulated good? Though the good will be purchased due to the fact that the customer requested for it. If the answer is affirmative, can the customer be charged some amount in case he defaulted on arrival of the good?

JazaakaLahu khairan

[9/5, 7:26 AM] Ustadh Abdulghani Jumat: Wa alaykum as-salaamu wa rahmatullahi wa barakātuhu.

Praise be to Allah; may the blessing and peace be upon the Messenger of Allah.

To proceed:

There are four types of buying and selling methods. They are, one, instant exchange of the two items ( i.e, the comodity and the money or another item), two, instant delivery of the money and deferment of the delivery the goods ( bai'u as- salam), three, instant delivery of the goods and deferment of the money ( bai'u al ajal), and finally the deferment of both of them ( bai'u addayn bi addayn).
As for bai'u as-salam, there must be full delivery of the money i.e, the should be full payment of the price of the commodity in advance as a part payment makes it take the ruling of the fourth type, i.e, bai'u addayn bi addayn the ruling of which is ribaa.
However, if full payment is made from inception but the delivery of the goods with their descriptions is delayed to a known future date, then this type of transaction is permissible like the first and the third types if all other conditions of buying and selling and met.
Hence,it is not permissible for the selller to take part payment from the buyer for goods that are not presently available in his shop or so. Rather, he is going to get those goods later in the future. This is ribaa.
As for the fourth type of buying and selling, i.e, concluding a binding contract to buy the goods or sell the goods if brought by the seller, this is not binding as there is no comodity yet while the money is deferred ( i.e bai'u al ajal), nor has the buyer made full payment in advance while the goods are deferred. ( i.e, bai-u as-salam). Hence, the contract is not yet binding on both of them. It is only regarded as a promise which is not legally binding according to the Fiqh Academy and most schollars contrary to al- Qardaawi and some others.

Note: The Fiqh Academy based on the view of majority of its members, says the mutual promise to buy and sell the item if brought is not considered a sealed contract. However, if the seller has incurred some loss in bringing the item, the intending buyer who has promised to buy will then be forced legally to buy it or pay only the amount the supplier has lost after he( the supplier) has sold it to a third party.
This view, however, is rejected by some members such as Dr Rafeeq al-Misri, Muhammad al-Ashqar et al.

In addition scholars such as al-Albaani, Ibn Baaz, al-Uthaimeen and many others are also vehemently against this and consider it to be ribaa.
As for the supplier requesting from the intending buyer a commitment fee ( haamish al-jiddiyyah), some scholars see it as permissible on condition that it is not regarded as part payment lest it becomes ribaa as explained above.

Wallahu A'lam.