Earnest-money sale (‘urbun) and the seller keeping the deposit if the buyer backs out

The shaykh’s answer in brief

Shaykh Sulayman ibn Salimullah al-Ruhaily

The shaykh said earnest-money sales are disputed among jurists because a prohibition is reported from the Prophet ﷺ and scholars differ on whether that hadith is authentic; in his view its weakness is closer to the truth, so the sale is valid with conditions and controls, which is what the fiqh councils ruled.

He then explained that a buyer may pay part of the price on the basis that, if he buys within the agreed period, it counts toward the price, and if he does not, there are two cases.

Details and conditions as the shaykh gave them

• First case: the deposit is returned to the buyer; this is permissible to all scholars as far as the shaykh knows.
• Second case: the owner of the goods keeps it; this is the disputed case, and the shaykh holds it permissible.
• He said he reconsidered the issue repeatedly and that permissibility is what appeared correct to him.

Evidence and reasoning mentioned in the answer

• He mentioned the reported prohibition of earnest-money sales and judged the hadith weak, without giving its chain in this answer.
• The default ruling in transactions is permissibility.
• Paying the whole price in advance is allowed, so paying part of it is allowed.
• The deposit is matched by a legitimate benefit: holding the goods for the buyer and the seller’s lost chance to sell during that period; he gave the example of a car reserved for a buyer while the seller turns away a higher offer.

Short excerpts from the answer (Arabic)

Excerpts matched the book text literally after normalising diacritics and spaces.

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