Q: What is the position of a phone contract in Islam? Is it regarded as a sale or ijaarah (hire) as one is buying a phone and also paying for minutes, data, and SMS?
Sometimes, if the person doesn’t use all the minutes, he will lose the remainder and it will not carry over to the next month. Are such contracts permissible?
A: Phone contracts fall under the category of ijaarah contracts. Hence, if the contract allows one to make calls for a specific amount of money for a stipulated period of time, it will be permissible and the contract will be valid for that stipulated period. If the contract allows one to make calls without stipulating a period, then too it will be permissible. The reason for the permissibility is that this has become part of the urf (general practice of society) and will not lead to any disputes and misunderstandings, as the amount of calls that one can make is limited and known by both parties. In the case where the contract includes a device e.g. phone, router, etc., it will also be permissible. Even though this contract is inclusive of the sale of the phone, router, etc., as well as an ijaarah (hire) of the network, it will be permissible on account of this becoming common in the urf (general practice of society). This contract, inclusive of a sale and an ijaarah of a service, can be resembled to the rental of the water utility. One pays the municipality an amount for the rental of the water line, as well as a separate amount for the water that one has used. Another example of this is a doctor whose charge is inclusive of the medication as well as the consultation fee.
And Allah Ta'ala (الله تعالى) knows best.
ثم اعلم أن كثيرا من الأحكام التي نص عليها المجتهد صاحب المذهب بناء على ما كان في عرفه وزمانه قد تغيرت بتغير الأزمان بسبب فساد أهل الزمان أو عموم الضرورة كما قدمناه من إفتاء المتأخرين بجواز الاستئجار على تعليم القرآن وعدم الاكتفاء بظاهر العدالة مع أن ذلك مخالف لما نص عليه أبو حنيفة رحمه الله (شرح عقود رسم المفتي صـ 116)
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