The Sarf Contract in Islamic Law and Its Contemporary Evaluation

In Islamic jurisprudence, the sale of gold, silver, money, and foreign currency is subject to a special status and is examined within the context of "sarf contract." In a sarf contract, if the two commodities are of the same kind, the exchange must be "equal in amount and immediate." If the commodities are different, the exchange must still be immediate but can be of equivalent value. Such a barter is subject to general trade rules if conducted based on monetary value, which is encouraged to prevent deception.Prophet Muhammad deemed the exchange of two measures of dates of varying quality for one measure as riba, advocating instead for selling one's commodity and purchasing the desired commodity with the obtained money to avoid deception. The purchase of gold and silver via bank card, where payment is made from the buyer’s current account, is considered immediate, as the transfer of funds to the seller’s account occurs electronically at the time of the contract. Forming a fund for gold and silver, operating it through labor capital, and sharing the revenue according to agreed terms is permissible.In cases of borrowing in Turkish lira, if no special indexation is made during borrowing, adding the "TÜİK inflation difference" to claims, especially in case of default, is appropriate based on the gold rate during periods of gold market stability or the country's inflation rates during instability. According to Imam Abu Yusuf, if there is a value difference between types of money other than gold and silver during their issuance, this is considered compensation for the loss of value rather than riba.