A Permissible Transaction
Question:
I have some old jewelry and I went to sell it at the market. I presented it to one of the merchants who took it and gave me other jewelry in place of it without taking any increase from me or giving me any thing extra. I thought that this was something impermissible, so he said to me that if he weighed what he took from me and what he gave me, they would be equal. So, I believed him in that. I would like for you to give me a ruling concerning this transaction. This is while knowing that it is not possible for me to return the gold to him now if the transaction was not permissible.
Answer:
If they (the jewelry) were equal in weight along with the exchange taking place on the spot of the transaction, there is no harm in that, even if one of them was better than the other. This is due to the generality of the authentic Hadiths concerning this. If the merchant was lying, the sin is on him.
Shaykh `Abdul-`Azeez Bin Baz
Fatawa Islamiyah vol.4, p.392
