Mu' meneen Brothers and Sisters,

As Salaam Aleikum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh.  (May Allah's Peace, Mercy and Blessings be upon all of you)

One of our brothers/sisters has asked this question:

Dear Brother Burhan, Assalamo Alaikum,

I strike a deal for purchasing a plot of land say for $10,000 from A and give an earnest money of $1000 with the written agreement that I will pay the balance within 4 weeks and thta I am entitled to sell it to another buyer during this period of four weeks. After two weeks I get an offer of $11,000 for it from B and I sell this plot to B fo$11000. I take an earnest money of $2000 from B and agree with him that he pays the balance amount of $9000 to A within two weeks. I have thus earned a profit of $1000 on my investment of $1000. In the light of Quran and Sunnah please advise if this sort of deal is halal. Many thanks. 

(There may be some grammatical and spelling errors in the above statement. The forum does not change anything from questions, comments and statements received from our readers for circulation in confidentiality.)

Answer:

Trading land before actual buying

In the name of Allah, We praise Him, seek His help and ask for His forgiveness. Whoever Allah guides none can misguide, and whoever He allows to fall astray, none can guide them aright. We bear witness that there is no one (no idol, no person, no grave, no prophet, no imam, no dai, nobody!) worthy of worship but Allah Alone, and we bear witness that Muhammad(saws) is His slave-servant and the seal of His Messengers.

The profit that you have earned from the above transaction is absolutely halaal, even if you stand to make $1,000,000.00 from a $1,000.00 investment! There is absolutely nothing wrong or un-Islamic in the above transaction in light of the Quran and Sunnah.

Whatever written of Truth and benefit is only due to Allah’s Assistance and Guidance, and whatever of error is of me. Allah Alone Knows Best and He is the Only Source of Strength.

Your Brother in Islam,

Burhan