Ruling on down payments

Question

Praise be to Allah.

Yes, he has the right to do that. This was done by ‘Umar
ibn al-Khattaab, and this is the view of Imam Ahmad (may Allaah have mercy
on him).

Shaykh Ibn Baaz (may Allaah have mercy on him) said:

There is nothing wrong
with keeping the down payment, according to the more correct of the two
scholarly opinions, if the seller and buyer had agreed to that and the sale
had not been completed.

Fataawa li’l-Tijjaar wa Rijaal al-A’maal,
p. 49

It says in Fataawa al-Lajnah al-Daa’imah, 13/133:

Making down payments is permissible; that is when the buyer
gives the seller or his agent a sum of money that is less than the price of
the goods, after the agreement is made, to guarantee that he will get the
goods and no one else will take them, and when the goods are delivered, this
down payment is to be regarded as part of the price. If he does not then buy
the goods, the seller may take the down payment and keep it, and the
transaction is valid, whether he stipulated a time for payment of the rest
of the price or not. The seller has the right to ask the purchaser to pay
the rest of the price once the transaction has been completed and the goods
have been handed over. The fact that making down payments is permissible is
indicated by the fact that ‘Umar ibn al-Khattaab (may Allaah be pleased with
him) did that. Imam Ahmad said concerning making down payments: There is
nothing wrong with it. And it was narrated that Ibn ‘Umar (may Allaah be
pleased with him) regarded it as permissible. Sa’eed ibn al-Musayyib and Ibn
Sireen said: There is nothing wrong returning the product if he did not like
it and giving something with it. With regard to the hadeeth that was
narrated from the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him),
saying that he forbade making down payments, this is a da’eef (weak) hadeeth
which was classed as such by Imam Ahmad and others, and it cannot be taken
as evidence.