Using credit cards to buy gold, Silver and currencies : buying gold jewelry with credit card

Fatawa Question

Dear Dr. Monzer , I have an important question regarding credit cards. I did surf through the internet and read a few of your fatwas, but I need to ask further. I hope you can reply so that I can spread this knowledge to other Muslims around Ireland. Al Ustaz Zaharuddin Abd Rahman, a prominent Malaysian expert in islamic finance, mentioned about using credit cards in transactions that involves currency exchange (for example, using a card issues by an Irish bank in the UK or Malaysia). It is haram, and he did mention his Hujjah and rulings from scholars. He said it is due to a delay (the transaction will appear in the statement and will be paid by the user at the end of the month) he advised us to use a charge card like American Express instead and pay in full at the end of the month, or use an Islamic credit card in Malaysia and use it in Ireland. Our current situation now is as follows : -Unlike in the UK, we don’t have Islamic financial products in Ireland. I’ve tried to look in the internet, but failed to find any. -I checked with AMEX, but all applicants must have a salary of at least 35,000 Euros a year (we are students) -we pay by direct debit 100 % every month (does our credit cards still considered as 'uncovered' ?) -We travel and buy stuff online a lot (flight tickets, eBay, etc.) -We can't make an Islamic credit card back in Malaysia since we are not working, (not like Irish banks student account, we can make a credit card even if we are not working) -Not all of our parents have the awareness to use Islamic financial products (but we are working on it), so supplementary credit cards is not an option. The credit card that we are currently using makes daily transaction very easy. What is your opinion about this ? Trying my best to refrain from Riba', Azri

Fatwa

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Publication Date

2010-08-27

Main Subjects

Financial and Accounting Sciences
Islamic Studies

Topics

• Islamic jurisprudence
• Foreign exchange
• Purchasing
• Gold
• Silver
• Credit cards

No. of Pages

2

Data Type

Fatawa

Language

English

Record ID

BIM-728389

• APA
• MLA
• AMA