Answered by our Shaykh, the ‘Allaamah, the Trustworthy Adviser, Abu ‘Abdirrahman Yahya bin ‘Ali Al-Hajoori – may Allaah preserve him – on the 7th, Safar, 1441H
Question: Is taking the down payment permissible?
Answer: Yes, it is permissible to take the down payment, and if the buyer fulfills the promise and takes the merchandise, what a blessing, and if he doesn’t fulfill, so he (the seller) takes (the down payment) in return for his missed opportunity (to sell), then verily the ruling of this is that it is not prohibited, so for example he (the buyer) says reserve this merchandise for me, and the seller remains waiting, and misses opportunities to sell it in the market at the full price of the merchandise -and the buyer who reserved the merchandise according to the down payment- comes and says, I don’t want it! They (the scholars) said: if he (the seller) takes the down payment in return for his missed opportunities,,, that this is not from eating the wealth of the people in falsehood,,, this is good speech and it is mentioned in the books of fiqh, and there is no problem with this statement.
Translated by : Abu ‘Abdillah ‘Omar bin Yahya Al-‘Akawi
Click on the link to view the Arabic : https://t.me/sh_yahia_duroos/5005