Returning a gold ring that does not fit

A question about returning a gold ring that does not fit, in which Jordan's General Iftaa Department answered that rescinding a gold sale (iqala) is permitted and recommended for the seller; it is a rescission, not a new contract, so the buyer gets back the price he paid rather than today's price, provided this was not stipulated in the contract. ¹

A buyer whose new gold ring turned out to be too big asked whether he should return it at the price he paid or at today's price. ¹

The Department answered that the seller is encouraged to release the buyer from the sale if he regrets it and asks, citing a hadith narrated by Abu Dawud whose meaning is that whoever releases a Muslim from a sale, God will release him from his stumbling. ¹ It said that rescission is a cancellation of the contract, not a new contract, according to the relied-upon Shafi'i view, so the seller takes back the goods and the buyer takes back the price, and that it applies to gold sales, quoting Zakariyya al-Ansari in Asna al-Matalib (2/74) that, because it is a cancellation, the parties may part before mutual possession in a currency exchange. ¹ It concluded that the seller takes back the gold at the price at which he sold it, not at today's price, provided this was not stipulated at the time of the contract, since no option may be attached to a currency exchange; if the seller does not agree to rescind, the buyer may sell the ring to him at whatever price they agree. ¹

Jordan's General Iftaa Department published this fatwa on aliftaa.jo as no. 4472, dated 17 May 2026. ¹ The museum records this text as a historical document attributed to the body or scholar that issued it; it issues no ruling of its own.