Bay ál-sarf has been practiced by people since the time of the prophet without any objections from anyone. The prophet said Gold-for-gold, silver-for-silver, wheat-for-wheat, barley-for-barley, dates-for -dates and salt-for-salt, should be exchanged like-for-like, equal-for-equal and hand-to-hand. If the types of exchanged commodities are different, then sell them as you wish, if they are exchanged based on a hand-to-hand transaction (Muslim, hadith no.1587).

Shariah scholars believe Bay ál-sarf can be done between two of the same kind of medium of exchange, such as the sale of gold-for-gold or silver-for-silver. Also, Maliki scholars consider money exchange only if the sale is gold-for-gold or silver-for-silver, not if the sale is gold-for-silver or silver-for-gold. The basic objective bay al’-sarf is to prevent the pricing of money and use it as a form of commodity.

Looking at the salient Shariáh issues in the contemporary application of Bay ‘al-Sarf, the legal status of widely used currencies in the world remains debatable among Shari’ah scholars.

The IFA-OIC holds the opinion that the paper currency, being the legal currency, is subject to the dictates of the Shariáh principles applied to gold and silver.

In the primitive era, there was no money but trade by barter which means people exchanged commodities with one another in the market. But that could not sustain a high volume of business or commercial transactions. This brought the invention of money as a medium of exchange. In early human society, human beings exchanged commodity money in the form of gold and silver. Also, gold and silver were used as currencies during the time of Prophet Mohammad (SAW).

An IFI that uses bay al-sarf as part of the underlying contract for its products and services must ensure that such products and services are compliant.

Interest rate is one of the major destructive sins that cause disruption and leads to economic sabotage. In Islamic finance principles, riba is prohibited which translate to buying money with money is seen as a form of speculation and not allowed, all transaction must be legitimate underlying business or asset as part to avoid interest or excessive uncertainty.

The current situation of the scarcity of cash in Nigeria makes POS operators demand high interest from the money withdrawn. All these are prohibited in Islam and are not good for the citizens.