Delaying payment in a currency exchange

A question on a money-changer deferring payment after an exchange, in which the IslamWeb fatwa centre answered that it is not permitted. ¹

The questioner asked whether the seller may defer handing over a sum to someone after a currency exchange. ¹

The centre answered that when one currency is sold for another, both must be handed over in the same sitting, citing the "hand to hand" hadith in Muslim's collection. ¹ It held that delaying receipt of either counter-value, or any part of it, beyond the sitting is not permitted, because it is a form of riba al-nasi'a. ¹ It referred the reader to its other fatwas on riba al-nasi'a and riba al-fadl. ¹

The IslamWeb fatwa centre published this fatwa as no. 20850, dated 13 August 2002. ¹ The museum records this answer as a historical text attributed to its author; it issues no ruling of its own.