Selling for Capital with an Additional Certain Percentage Profit (Murabahah) or a Certain Amount of Profit with Mention of Percentage Ratio

“I once asked abu Ja’far (a.s.), about the case of a man who buys goods altogether for a certain price, then sets a price for each piece proportionately until all of his capital is covered; if he can sell it in the form of Murabahah (capital plus a certain percent profit). He (the Imam) said, ‘No, he cannot do so until he makes it clear that the item has a fixed price.’”

“Abu ‘Abd Allah (a.s.), has said that once goods for my father came from Egypt. He (the Imam) prepared food and invited the merchants. They said, ‘We buy from you Be dah dawazdah. He (the Imam) asked, ‘How much is that?’ They replied, ‘It is two thousand on every ten thousand.’ My father said to them, ‘I sell this to you for twelve thousand.’ He (the Imam) sold it to them in the form of Musawamah (fixed price regardless of the capital).”

“Abu ‘Abd Allah (a.s.), has said, ‘I do not like the sale in the form of dah, yaz dah, and dah dawazdah but I sell for so and so (fixed price).”’

“Abu ‘Abd Allah (a.s.), has said, ‘I do not like the sale of ten for eleven and ten for twelve and so on. I sell for so and so (fixed price) in the form of Musawamah (fixed price regardless of capital).’ He (the Imam) then said, ‘Once goods from Egypt came for me and I disliked selling it in that way ( Murabahah (capital plus profit)) and it seemed greatly heavy, so I sold it in the form of Musawamah (fixed price regardless of capital).”’

“I once said to abu ‘Abd Allah (a.s.), ‘We send dirham to Ahwaz where the price of dirham is different. With it goods are bought for us. We then wait until the goods are sold, the difference of price of dirham is deducted from it, if we sell. Is it necessary for us to mention the difference in prices in selling in the form of Murabahah (capital plus profit) on our part (of such difference)?’ He (the Imam) said, ‘No, you must mention it if it is in the form of Murabahah (capital plus profit), but if it is in the form of Musawamah (fixed price regardless of capital) then it is lawful.’”

“This is concerning my question before abu ‘Abd Allah (a.s.), about the case of a man who said to me, ‘Buy this cloth and this stumper from me, then in the form of ‘Aynah sell them to me (sell them to me and I will give you a profit of so and so amount).’ He (the Imam) said, ‘It is lawful.’ He (the Imam) said, ‘He should buy it but you must not make binding on him to sell before he makes it binding or you buy it.’”

“I once said to abu ‘Abd Allah (a.s.), ‘I buy goods with deferred payment for a certain time. A man comes to me and says, ‘What is the price.’ I say, ‘It is so and so amount.’ I then sell it to him with a certain amount of profit. He (the Imam) said, ‘When you sell it in the form of Murabahah (capital plus profit) he has a share in the value of deferred payment also just as you have.’ I then said Istirja‘ (the expression, ‘To Allah we belong and to Him we all return’) and said, ‘We are destroyed.’ He (the Imam) said, ‘Because of what?’ I replied, ‘There is no cloth on earth that I buy without Murabahah (capital plus profit) and they are bought from me even if I reduce the capital to say it is for so and so amount. When he (the Imam) saw my difficulties he (the Imam) said, ‘Do you want that I open a door for you to make things easier for you? Say, “It has costed me so and so and I sell it for so and so price;” do not say I sell it in the form of Murabahah (capital plus profit).”’

“This is concerning my question before abu ‘Abd Allah (a.s.), about the case in which we buy a bundle of a hundred or so cloths in which there are good and bad ones ‘dast shumar ’ (farsi word for mixed). A man comes and takes ninety for the bundle with profit of one dirham for each. Is it proper for us to sell the rest as just we sold? He (the Imam) said, ‘No, unless he alone buys the cloth.’”