I have a little knowledge about muraabahah transactions, and I hope that you can explain it in a way that will help us to avoid anything haraam.

I am an employee in a company where we have a muraabahah system. I want to build a house, and I have applied for a muraabahah-based loan, but I have some questions:

1. As soon as the company makes a contract with the construction materials dealer, is that sufficient, or must the materials be moved to another place?

2. Right now, construction materials are expensive in our country. When the loan is given, is it permissible for me to ask the dealer from whom the company has bought the materials to keep the money until prices drop? I also want to wait until I get time off before I start work on construction.


Praise be to Allah.

Firstly: 

How
the muraabahah transaction is done is that you make an agreement with a
company or bank to buy specific items, such as a car or building materials,
with a promise to the company that when it buys the products and takes
possession of them, you will buy them from them with a certain profit
margin. This muraabahah is not a loan, and calling this transaction a loan
is wrong, unless the so-called muraabahah transaction is incorrect and the
company did not buy the product for itself, rather all it did was finance
the customer by giving him the money. In that case it is a loan; in fact it
is a riba-based loan because the company is asking the customer to pay back
the loan and more. 

The
correct form of muraabahah involves the following steps: 

1.    
You tell the company about the products that you want to acquire.

2.    
The company buys these products for itself.

3.    
The company takes possession of the products and moves them from the
dealer’s place. It is not permissible for it to sell the products to the
customer before taking possession of them and moving them.

4.    
The company sells the products to the customer after taking
possession of them.

5.    
Once the company has sold the products to you, it is permissible for
you to use them to build the house, or it is permissible for you to sell
them in the marketplace in order to obtain cash, so long as you sell them to
someone who has no connection to the company or the dealer who sold them to
the company. It is also stipulated that you should sell them yourself, and
it is not permissible for you to delegate the company to sell them for you. 

If
these conditions are met, then the muraabahah is valid. 

The
evidence that the company is obliged to take possession of the products and
move them from the dealer’s place is the report narrated by Ahmad (15399)
and an-Nasaa’i (4613), according to which Hakeem ibn Hizaam (may Allah be
pleased with him) said: I said: O Messenger of Allah, I buy and sell things;
what is permissible for me with regard to them and what is forbidden? He
said: “When you have bought something, do not sell it until you have taken
possession of it.”

Classed as saheeh by al-Albaani in Saheeh al-Jaami‘, no. 342. 

Ad-Daaraqutni and Abu Dawood (3499) narrated from Zayd ibn Thaabit (may
Allah be pleased with him) that the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be
upon him)

forbade selling goods where they were bought, before the merchants moved
them to their places.

Classed as saheeh by Ibn Hibaan and al-Haakim; classed as saheeh by
al-Albaani in Saheeh Abi Dawood. 

In
as-Saheehayn it is narrated from Ibn ‘Abbaas (may Allah be pleased with
him) that the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) said:
“Whoever buys some foodstuff, let him not sell it until he has received it
in full.”

Narrated by al-Bukhaari (2132) and Muslim (1525), who added:
Ibn ‘Abbaas said: I think that all things are like this,
i.e., there is no difference between foodstuffs and other things in that
regard. 

See
also the answer to questions no. 119485 and
36408. 

Secondly: 

There
is no connection between you and the dealer who sells the construction
material, so you do not have the right to ask him to keep the money until
prices drop, because the valid muraabahah transaction – as stated above – is
that in which the company must buy from the dealer. When the company has
bought the products and taken possession of them, then it is your turn,
which means that you buy them from the company. If the price of the
materials is too high, then you can wait until prices drop, then you can
apply for the muraabahah deal. 

And
Allah knows best.