Are hire purchase contracts permissible?
Question: There is a contract here to purchase a car where you pay in installments and then after say 3 years you have the option to purchase the car for a lump sum or give the car back. Is such a contract allowed? So you pay in installments but its not yours until you get to this last payment? Answer Firstly, if the agreement is such that you lease the car for a period of 3 years and during this you pay the monthly rent to the company and at the end of the 3 year period you have the option to return the car or purchase the car at a price. Such a type of contract is allowed as this contract is essentially a rent contract followed by the option to purchase or return the car to the company. There is a single rent contract that exists in this case and once the period of rent ends then you have the option to either return the car or purchase i.e there is no contract upon the aspect or purchasing the car and therefore this is permissible. The prophet (saw) said إنّما البيع ...