Recordings › Shaykh Omar Baloch | Cynicism, Consumerism & the Catch 22 of Riba | Mindtrap with Mufti #30 · 10 Jul 2020 › Segment 25 of 38
Is it better to rent or to take a mortgage?
fiqah jurisprudence fikh muftis ribaa sood usury jannah janna jannat rizq rizkRiba as a concept versus mortgages: is buying better than renting?
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This segment1:30:43 to 1:35:53 · 5 min 10 sGeneral teaching
What this part covers
machinesummary, machine-writtenMufti Abu Layth argues that, compared with renting, a mortgage is probably the better option, and presses the guest on what is wrong with riba as a concept.
In more detail
The guest says that in Islam a lender does not take ownership of all your work if you cannot pay. Mufti Abu Layth calls this a false comparison between a detailed real case and a utopian ideal, and asks whether they are discussing mortgages or riba, which he describes as getting back more than you give, the very thing that motivates human endeavour. The guest separates the fiqh issue from the philosophy and admits he does not have a good answer, since renters also pay their landlord's mortgage, and says most homeowners pay only the minimum and build little equity. Mufti asks whether they have not lived more cheaply than renting, and says that from a utilitarian view, if the choice is between renting and the modern mortgage system, the mortgage is probably better because it gives capital as well as being cheaper. The guest says owners invest far more in a home than renters, and Mufti says he is not defending vicious mortgage schemes but wants to establish what the actual problem with riba is.
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that example are still so many confounding variables if you have the house for a million dollars and you paid nine hundred thousand for some reason you can't pay the last hundred thousand they would sell the house give the 90 percent that that person paid for his share and the bank would keep the let's see phil has something but let's come to the actors big buy cars and they can't pay two three now a person has a car for fun see the problem with this see the problem with this ship is that you see I want to speak about the concept of RIBA that is the problem
rather than these particulars because these particulars vary once yeah they do not get ownership of all your hard work if you do not pay the whole thing yeah but that's you see once again I don't know whether that's always true that you already paid you see because I think that's a false what you it's it's it's a false kind of comparison because you see what you're saying you're giving a very particular detailed example and your counter example is just seems like utopian kind of paradise in saying well in Islam it's so beautiful and here it
is here's a real world example there are two principles right the principle is I'm gonna give you a loan okay so if we speak of the concept you get a loan to get a loan you need a collateral right so okay look what you see look okay so are we discussing what mortgages is this what we're discussing what are we discussed because I'm speaking about of RIBA which is a concept of getting back more than you give but this you're speaking about a particular like mortgages specifically now mortgages specifically yes okay so
if we're gonna speak of mortgages let's stick to two years let's okay let's stick to mortgages then let's stick to mortgages what do you propose that a person rents wait wait but wait is a person leave then oh okay here you're confusing two different one is a fifty issue okay and the other is the philosophy of it right okay so in that case if we want to discuss the philosophy then go let's go to the concept itself the cool concept every perspective I don't have an answer I
don't have a good answer because if you rent a house you're also paying the mortgage of the person who has the apartment complex yet so okay let's go to the actual concept learning the concept of RIBA itself without its particulars the universal right so getting something getting back more than you gave right that is the very basis to motivate human endeavor so what is the problem with every person okay so the problem is I have two options yeah two options for the society that I live in okay option one is I can buy a house and I can buy a house so what is your
but one is none no but this is now you're going back to a particular that to with the false comparison because it's a it's a non realistic comparison so like if we stick to the the universal that the concept ownership till I own it till I paid and most people what do they do most people will Nate so I'm looking at the chip but to understand Reba is bad we need to discuss revive most people will pay the minimum and you know what the minimum is it's not so principal is the interest okay look I love us people pay the minimum for their houses
I know hundreds of families here who month-to-month they're paid they have no equity in their houses because they're just paying the bare minimum I get that but let's talk about so twenty years but we really don't own that much because we've been paying the minimum so it's like if you buy an iron but okay but have they have they got have they lived cheaper than if they were renting that same property yes so they so they've been benefiting yes so they've been saving their money and they've benefited themselves no I'm not I'm looking at it from a utilitarian perspective that look
if the choice is between an apartment where you pay rent versus the modern mortgage system right then probably the market moderate mortgage system is better of course because it gives you capital as well in addition to actually being cheaper than the rent option so you save more money generally I mean I don't know about in the u.s. being the UK mortgages are losing but when I'm in the apartment hold on when I'm in the apartment if you're asking me which is cheaper the the house is cheaper but here's a difference sure when I'm in an apartment I'm expecting to pay $700 a month and that's all I expected right
when I have a house I'm investing in it like it's my house like in terms of furniture in terms of everything in it you know all that happening but that happens with certain rented on non provision and take it all the way but they won't note that that's not necessarily true that's not necessarily true of I firstly said that because look there's a process before they so okay sure look I'm not defending the the kind of like the the the vicious mortgage kind of schemes what I'm saying is we need to backtrack and say well what is the actual problem
with this concept of river what is it what is the problem because if we're saying just getting back more than you give this is the very basic impulse that motivates human beings do the same thing in a much more efficient way for the business site as well as the invest in the person who is important just to be clear that what you're saying is they should share the risk is that what you say no but is that no but is that what you're saying you're saying that it's fine to get back more so long as you are sharing the risk yes that's one thing
Paragraphs overlapping 1:30:43 to 1:35:53. Full text on the recording page.
Cite this segment
Stable id, transcript version and tier are part of the citation. Every change to a transcript is logged.Mufti Abu Layth Archive, segment 2020-07-10-S25, auto-transcribed, may contain errors. https://muftiabulayth.org/r/wce73zqci_i/s/25/ (accessed 1 November 2026)
- APA 7
Mufti Abu Layth. (2020, July 10). Is it better to rent or to take a mortgage? [Video, segment 2020-07-10-S25, auto-transcribed, may contain errors]. Mufti Abu Layth Archive. Retrieved November 1, 2026, from https://muftiabulayth.org/r/wce73zqci_i/s/25/
- Chicago author-date
Mufti Abu Layth. 2020. "Is it better to rent or to take a mortgage?" Video, segment 2020-07-10-S25, auto-transcribed, may contain errors. Mufti Abu Layth Archive. Recorded July 10, 2020. Accessed November 1, 2026. https://muftiabulayth.org/r/wce73zqci_i/s/25/
- BibTeX
@misc{abulayth-2020-07-10-S25, author = {Mufti Abu Layth}, title = {{Is it better to rent or to take a mortgage?}}, year = {2020}, month = {7}, date = {2020-07-10}, howpublished = {\url{https://muftiabulayth.org/r/wce73zqci_i/s/25/}}, url = {https://muftiabulayth.org/r/wce73zqci_i/s/25/}, organization = {Mufti Abu Layth Archive}, urldate = {2026-11-01}, note = {Segment 2020-07-10-S25, auto-transcribed, may contain errors} }
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