Is it permissible to borrow from a company that offers money in exchange for purchasing a commodity from it, with compensation for the usurious interest in the form of a free commodity, given the unavailability of interest-free loans in the country?
Borrowing with usury is a major sin, permissible only in cases of dire necessity. Your request for a loan for your commercial business does not constitute a necessity. What the lending company proposes to you—that it sells you a commodity in order to lend you—is forbidden, due to the Prophet’s (peace be upon him) prohibition of "a sale and a loan," because it involves stipulating one contract within another, and because the increase in price in exchange for the loan is forbidden usury. It is not permissible to borrow with usury in exchange for the company's promise to give a commodity, as this combines a sale and a loan, and the commodity is not free; rather, it is in exchange for the usurious increase.
Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026
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