Ribba is haram but why do some sheikhs say its not

[WithAllahsPowers]

i need help trying to understand if my questions is haram doing or not.

i live in sydney australia. rent in my area can be from $370 and higher. if your lucky you can find something for $370 but most homes are over $400 a week. if you have kids its hard to find a house for rent because people prefer to rent you a home if your single or just husband and wife. no kids.

my husband and i were lucky to find a house to rent. but we told them we have no kids so that we can get the house. may allah forgive us for lying.
they owners will only rent for 6 months. after that they need the house for their personal use.

our lease ends in march next year. so we have to keep looking for another house and thats so hard to do.

we were thinking of buying our own home. but having a home loan is haram because of the interest we pay. for this reason we dont want to buy. but some sheikhs are saying, because rent is high and hard to find, we have no choice and are allowed to do so because we are not doing this for investment intentions or for fun but because we need to shelter our family what other choices do we have if we dont find a house for rent?
this is true but we cant change something thats haram into not being haram because there is no other option or can we???

sheikh uses the example i think he said in the quran or not sure where it says something like pig is haram to eat, but if there is no food and person is desperate he is allowed to eat it as long as they are not eating it because they desire or they want to but because they have to. something like this and correct me if im wrong. i would rather die then put pig in my mouth. so is this in the quran or hadith or what?

should we buy a house and get a home loan or just keep finding a house for rent and paying over $400 a week which is paying off the owners loan? we seem to be paying off someones loan / a loan whether we rent or buy.

i know its too early to look for another home to rent or buy but time runs so fast. to buy a house we need at least a few weeks to look for one and contract takes 42 days to complete. so if my lease ends in march, i have to look for a home to buy in january 2011 and if im not buying a home i have to look for rent during February 2011 and if i dont find rent, and my lease runs out, i would have to pray to god my husband and kids dont end up sleeping in a car.

what should i do, what do i do? this is a test from Allah, to see will i buy or rent? i've prayed istikara, but feel different feelings all the time. most of the time im looking for a house to buy but that could be because its in my head and its my subconscious thinking not a dream or is it not?

how do i pass this test without disobeying Allah.

When family ask me what will i do in march when my lease runs out, i say, i put my trust in Allah, whatever Allah wrote will happen, i will accept and alhumdulilah. when time comes, i will let you know where i am and what Allah has decided for me. but then they say 'Allah says' - Akal, wa tawakal - meaning, act and try before relying on Allah. i think thats the translation in English. so what do i try to do? I rely on allah, trust allahs decision, agree not upset with what is written for us but what should i do to help my family find shelter?

forgive me if i said something wrong. Let me know if i said something haram or inappropriate. i really want to do whats right by Allah before i do whats right for my family.

salam to all, please give me your oppinons and advice.

finance / interest / home loans / Ribba is haram, very very haram, i dont want to fall into this. do i have a choice or not?

 

[ahmed_indian]

:salam2:,

we can understand your problem sister. so many of us have to go through this.

i dont have enough knowledge to help you in this question...all i can do i pray for you and your family that may Allah make things easy for you.

and may Allah open a halaal way for you so that you dont have to disobey Him and your heart can be at rest. ameen

 

[WithAllahsPowers]

In such arrangement, you lease the house for a number of years you agree on. At the end of the lease, you either buy the house for the agreed-on price, or walk away. You can add a clause to the lease contract that allows renewal of the lease.

thank you for your reply.

i havent heard of such agreement because most people in sydney have homes that they rent to people to use for investment services. the point of them buying a house and renting it is so with the money they receive as rent pays out their house. meanwhile, they will buy another house and live in it. so some have 2 houses. one for investment and the other to live. some have heaps and heaps of houses and they rent them all and keep the land and house as an investment for the future or for their kids. even buying / finding a house for sale that would suite my family, is very very hard to find. most homes have very small rooms, small land, needs full renovating and in the end its not worth buying because its probably haram anyway. if i was to find a good size land with good rooms and already renovated, that wont suite my budget and that is more haram because we will pay extra interest. im renting right now a house that is really good. but the owner wants to knock it down in march for personal use. i think he might be building his own home.

the previous house we were renting, the lease ended and they want extra money if we stay in and that is way beyond our affordability. a loan would be cheaper. they took advantage of us.

in sydney, the lease agreement is a lease agreement where we rent only. if we find someone to do the agreement like you suggested that would be great but there is no one that does that here because their homes are just for investment purposes.
plus, i'll be buying anyway so that means in the end of the agreement if it was to be, i'll need a home loan. so i'll be buying in the end anyway.

i dont know what to do. i'll wait till january to make a decision but i hope everyone can help me in this regard before January comes. i can put my trust in allah and take the risk of not buying a house and relying on Allahs help to find a house for rent, but i hope i will be doing the right thing in this regard and i believe and trust Allah will not leave us.

a friend of mine called me this morning and was excited that her agent helped her find a house for rent. she was looking for only a week. subhan allah that news really helped me. she was crying all week and didnt know what to do and in the end there was her solution waiting for her. i may not get the solution she got, it may not be that i find a home with a week or i may find it within days. based on my experience and others i heard of, it takes weeks to find a home for rent and that yet may not be enough.
when it comes to looking for a place to rent, im not fused about the rooms or the land size, as long as its shelter. as for buying, im actually owning the place so i should be more careful in choosing the right home.

i think its all about trusting Allah. I trust Allah and trust he will have a solution for us, Allah is not going to leave my family homeless, he will be there for us inshallah. :tti_sister:

but it is still freaky. lol.

i dont want to fall into haram. i dont. i hope allah wrote something good for us.

salam to all.

 

[WithAllahsPowers]

Isn't there in all of Sydney a financial consultant who will work with you and the owners to come up with an equitable arrangement? Did you look into available government programs, such as low-income housing?

i dont need a financial consultant to try to come up with this arrangement because its obvious no one will do it. i've never heard it happen. i've worked at law firms and in the Real Estate agencies and this doesnt make sense unless for example someone makes this offer to his best friend or relative, okay thats possible but for me to knock on a stranger and do that its silly and funny. because no one will do it.

the only way to do this is by renting a house for the lease term being 1 year for example, and just hoping after that year the owners sell it and you'll be there to buy it. thats very possible.

so i can look for rent and ask that owners 'before i sign up for rent, are you looking at selling the coming year / years' if they say yes, they would not sign up to sell it as part of the lease they will still use the rent lease agreement and i just have to hope they stay by their words. no one would sign something like that. unless its offered to them and no stranger would say 'hey, would you like to rent and then buy my house' plus, i what if i dont want to buy it after the lease finishes. what if i want to be somewhere else or the neighbourhood becomes bad or something about the area is not good as i discover down the track. therefore i myself would not want to rent a house with arrangements of buying it later. i'll still be buying, i'll still be getting a loan, so whats the difference if i buy next year? so if i do this arrangement, then its not haram? im still buying. still getting a home loan.

anyway, thank you so much for your feedback, i hope you understand clearly what im talking about. i'll just wait and rely and trust that Allah will have a good decision for us like he did for my best friend.

my question really is if its haram to buy a house considering our position.

about the governement housing, yes there is. i've enquired already. lol. there is a 15 year waiting list. the minume is 10years. it depends on the families circumstances. housing commision in sydney is not easy to get. i filled up an application and they told me they are taking families from the 1995 list. my god. i heard of a family who live in a van, use public showers and toilets for personal use. public showers are the ones at the beach. they stay at parks and the father goes to work and the mother takes care of her 3 kids. i heard this at the begining of this year. but im sure they are in a home now.
the governement housing told me if i dont find a home by the time my lease runs out, they can help me to go into a motel with the kids but no furniture just until i find a house. i can put the furniture in storage thats okay but a motel! in our area there are heaps of motels and in other close areas too. but there are junky people, alcholics, bad things happen around motels, i've heard serious stories and thats freaky.

i dont know, im confused. i'll just leave it with Allah.:tti_sister:

 

[WithAllahsPowers]

:salam2:,

we can understand your problem sister. so many of us have to go through this.

i dont have enough knowledge to help you in this question...all i can do i pray for you and your family that may Allah make things easy for you.

and may Allah open a halaal way for you so that you dont have to disobey Him and your heart can be at rest. ameen

thankyou for understanding and thank you for your prayers. may allah make it easy on us like you said and i hope allah will open a halaal way for us so we dont disobey him and our heart can be at rest. perfect dua. thank you so much. thats exactly what i want. my heart to be at rest and not to disobey allah.

 

[WithAllahsPowers]

I understand.
May God make your situation easier and guide you to the right decision.

thank you so much. im glad you understand. thank you for your dua.