Bay’ al-Wafaa’

What is Bay’ al-Wafaa’ and what are the rulings concerning it?

Praise be to Allah, and blessings and peace be upon the Messenger of Allah:

Bay’ al-Wafaa’ means selling something on the condition that when the vendor pays back the money he accepted, the purchaser will return the item to him.

The scholars have decided the following:

This transaction is in reality a loan which leads to benefits for the lender, and is an attempt to get around the prohibition on ribaa. The majority of scholars said that this is not a valid transaction.

This contract is not permissible according to sharee’ah.