Bank instalment financing for hajj and umrah trips

A question about a hajj and umrah company that agreed with a bank on instalment sales to its clients, in which Jordan's General Iftaa Department answered that financing such services is structured as a lease of a described service owed in liability together with a parallel lease, and set out its conditions, including a ban on late-payment penalties. ¹

A company that organises hajj and umrah trips asked about its agreement with a bank to carry out a murabaha sale from the bank to the client, because of the high total cost of hajj and umrah and some pilgrims' wish for a flexible monthly instalment payment. ¹

The Department answered that contracts financing services rest on the financing institution agreeing with the travel companies on the terms and specifications the client requires, buying that service from them, and reselling it to the client in instalments, and that this is structured as a lease of a described service owed in liability (ijara mawsufa fi al-dhimma) together with a parallel lease. ¹ Among its conditions it listed that the service be known by its specifications, that it have recognised value in law and custom, and that the financier remain bound to deliver the service to the client to the end, so that if the company refuses to provide the service the client has recourse against the financier, unless the cause of refusal is stated in the contract. ¹ It added that the financier may not impose late-payment penalties on the client, because such penalties are forbidden usury. ¹ It concluded that the contracts must be drawn up as a lease of a described service owed in liability and a parallel lease, governed by these conditions. ¹

Jordan's General Iftaa Department published this fatwa on aliftaa.jo as no. 4023, dated 19 November 2025. ¹ The museum records this text as a historical document attributed to the body or scholar that issued it; it issues no ruling of its own.