A sale with a condition of free maintenance for the product's expected life

A question about selling used household appliances where the buyer stipulated their maintenance for their expected lifespan, in which Dar al-Ifta al-Misriyya answered that a buyer's stipulating that the seller maintain the devices throughout their known and agreed expected life, for a known consideration, is permissible in sharia and does not contradict the nature of the contract. ¹

The questioner said he sells used household appliances, that a customer asked for several devices and stipulated maintenance of their parts for the product's expected life because their warranty had expired, and he asked about the ruling. ¹

Dar al-Ifta recalled that dealings between people must first satisfy the general conditions of contracts: the parties' capacity, mutual consent, the absence of excessive uncertainty (gharar), and freedom from forbidden conditions that void the contract; it cited the hadith that Muslims are bound by their conditions except a condition that forbids the lawful or permits the forbidden, recorded by al-Tirmidhi, al-Daraqutni and al-Bayhaqi, and quoted Ibn Ruslan's commentary on Sunan Abi Dawud (14/655) that this concerns valid conditions, not corrupt ones. ¹ It defined a product's expected life as the period of after-sales service appropriate to the product's nature, running from the consumer's receipt of the goods or the activation of the warranty, as set out in the Consumer Protection Agency's decision 1/4 of 2022 published in the Egyptian Gazette, which obliges producers and suppliers to declare the expected life and to provide service centres and spare parts during it. ¹

Dar al-Ifta characterised the transaction as a sale with a condition: the sale is the purchase of the appliances for their price, and the condition is the stipulation of maintenance for a known and agreed period; it said the majority of Malikis, Shafi'is and Hanbalis allow combining a sale with a condition so long as the condition does not contradict the nature of the contract, does not permit the forbidden or forbid the lawful, and does not lead the sale into uncertainty. ¹ It quoted Ibn Rushd the grandfather in al-Muqaddimat al-Mumahhidat (2/67) that sale and condition are both valid when the condition is sound and does not lead the sale into uncertainty or corruption; al-Kharashi's commentary on Mukhtasar Khalil (5/80) that a condition the contract neither requires nor contradicts, and which serves it, is valid and binding; al-Zurqani (5/160) summarising Malik's position with the remarks of al-Ubbi and Ibn Arafa; and al-Nawawi in al-Majmu' (9/364) that stipulating something the contract does not by itself entail but which benefits a party, such as a term or a pledge, does not void the contract by unanimous agreement. ¹ It quoted Ibn Rajab in al-Qawa'id (1/534) that a buyer's stipulating a service from the seller, such as tailoring the cloth or carrying the firewood, is a hire for consideration that is valid on the apparent position of the school, and al-Hajjawi in al-Iqna' (2/80) that a buyer's stipulating a service from the seller in the thing sold is valid if it is known, and the seller is bound to perform it. ¹

Since the Lawgiver's aim is to cut off the causes of dispute, Dar al-Ifta required that the parts covered by the maintenance and the work included be specified, whether spare parts are covered or only the cost of repair, and whether all this is for a known consideration, so that the matter does not end in uncertainty or harm to the seller, citing the hadith that there is no harm and no reciprocating harm, reported by al-Hakim from Abu Sa'id al-Khudri. ¹ It referred to resolution 103 (6/11) of the Islamic Fiqh Academy at its eleventh session in Manama (25–30 Rajab 1419, 14–19 November 1998), which treated maintenance stipulated on the seller for a known period as a contract combining sale and condition, permissible whether or not materials are supplied; distinguished in leases between maintenance on which the use depends, which falls on the owner without stipulation, and other maintenance, which may be stipulated on either party; and required in every case that the maintenance be defined so as to remove uncertainty and that the fee be fixed. ¹

Dar al-Ifta concluded that a buyer's stipulating that the seller maintain the devices throughout their expected life, known to both and agreed between them, for a known consideration, is permissible in sharia, does not contradict the nature of the contract, and is not barred by any text. ¹

Dar al-Ifta al-Misriyya published this fatwa on dar-alifta.org as no. 9023, dated 12 July 2026, in the category of sale, among the fatwas of the Grand Mufti Nazir Muhammad Ayyad. 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.