Lending gold and requiring the workmanship fee on repayment

A question from someone lending her sister a piece of gold to sell, to be repaid with a piece of the same weight whose workmanship fee the sister bears, in which Jordan's General Iftaa Department answered that the like of the gold must be returned in weight and kind, and that requiring the workmanship fee is not allowed because it is riba. ¹

The questioner said her sister asked her for a loan, and she wanted to give her a piece of gold to weigh and sell; on repayment she would ask for a piece of gold of her choosing of the same weight, with the sister bearing the workmanship charge; she asked whether this is permitted. ¹

The Department answered that a gold loan is in principle repaid in gold of the same amount, weight and kind, citing the hadith requiring gold for gold weight for weight, and that an increase is riba if stipulated, but good repayment if given without stipulation. ¹ It said the lender may not require the borrower to bear the workmanship fee, because gold is one of the riba-bearing goods that must be exchanged like for like against its own kind, and what counts is equal weight of pure gold, not quality or workmanship. ¹ It cited Taqi al-Din al-Subki's completion of al-Majmu' that the sharia disregards quality, and al-Shafi'i's al-Umm that it is wrong to exchange silver with a smith for wrought silver jewellery while also paying his fee, since that is an unequal exchange. ¹ It added that returning a new piece for an old one does no harm, provided weight and kind are equal. ¹

Jordan's General Iftaa Department published this fatwa on aliftaa.jo as no. 3828, dated 13 November 2023. ¹ The museum records this text as a historical document attributed to the body or scholar that issued it; it issues no ruling of its own.