Question # 594: Salam aleikoum, I had read up on the Salam contract on your site, but I still have some questions. If I work with the Salam contract, the customer pays in advance. But Shopify only pays me after 3 days due to the processing time. Am I allowed to ship the product then? Or do I have to wait until the money is actually in my account? It saves shipping time. And you get clear confirmation that the money has been paid. By the time the customer has received the package, I will have already received the money in my account from Shopify. And is it a condition for a Salam contract with dropshipping that I state on my site that I am a dropshipper? If that is the case, it is sufficient to state on the site that products are shipped directly from China. However, this does deter customers.

Bismi-llahi r-raḥmani r-raḥīm,

Assalamu ‘laikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh,

All praise and thanks are due to Allah (سبحانه و تعالى), and peace and blessings be upon His Messenger (صلى الله عليه و سلم).

Dear questioner,

First of all, we implore Allah (سبحانه و تعالى) to help us serve His cause and render our work for His sake.

Shorter Answer: When a customer pays on Shopify, the Salam payment condition is fulfilled at that moment; the 3-day processing delay is a technical banking matter, not a juristic one. The IIFA Resolution No. 85 explicitly permits a 2–3 day deferral of the Salam capital, and the Islamic Fiqh Council recognizes bank transfers as valid “session payment.” You may therefore proceed with shipping once Shopify confirms the payment. As for disclosure, you are not required to call yourself a dropshipper; simply stating that orders ship directly from China with an estimated delivery time is both sufficient and necessary for Salam transparency. Also, please refer to Question # 520: Ruling on Selling on the Internet with Dropshipping (Salam Transactions).

Long Answer: The core condition of a Salam contract is that the buyer pays the full price of the product in advance at the time of entering into the sale contract. The previous answer references an important nuance in the scholarly position: the majority of jurists hold that the buyer must pay the amount at the time of signing the contract; however, some jurists allow the payment to be delayed, provided the delay is not prolonged so as to make it appear like a financial debt owed by the buyer to the seller. Imam Malik allowed for a delay of up to three days if the need arose.

This is directly relevant to your situation. The key issue is not whether Shopify delays the transfer to your bank, but whether the customer has paid the full Salam price when the contract is concluded. So, if Shopify has already successfully charged the customer and the payment is merely being processed or in settlement for a few days, Salam would treat the sale as paid in advance because the contract is already settled on the customer side and the item is due later. You have clear confirmation from Shopify that the funds are secured and will be transferred to you. This is analogous to a check that has been written and confirmed; the obligation is established even if the physical transfer takes a moment. So, in principle, you do not have to wait until the money physically reaches your account before shipping, provided the customer’s payment is complete and unconditional under the contract terms. You are not taking on a risk of non-payment; the money is already committed. The 3-day Shopify delay is a technical processing matter, not a question of whether the customer has paid. The Council of the International Islamic Fiqh Academy of the Organization of the Islamic Conference, in its 9th session in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, on 1–6 Dhū al-Qi’dah 1415h (1–6 April 1995) stated in the Resolution No. 85 (2/9) that “…Salam capital should – in principle – be received promptly during majlis al-aqd (attendance of the parties). However, it is permissible to defer it for two or three days, albeit on condition, the period of deferment being neither equal to nor above the date fixed in the Salam contract…”

A fatwa from Islamweb.net addresses an almost identical real-world scenario and adds an important clarification about what counts as “payment at the session of contract” in the digital age. Citing the Islamic Fiqh Council resolution, it states: Immediate payment of the price in the meeting of the contract occurs if one deposits the money in the account or by bank transfer; the resolution of the Islamic Fiqh Council reads: “Among the forms of virtual possession which are religiously considered, is when a person deposits an amount of money in the customer’s account directly or by a bank remittance.” This is a key point: when a customer pays on Shopify, the money is deposited via bank transfer/card processing. That act itself constitutes the “immediate payment” required by Salam, regardless of when Shopify releases the payout to you.

However, to be precise and cautious: the majority position is stricter than Imam Malik’s, and some scholars would still want the funds fully settled. If you want to be on the safe side, waiting until the funds are confirmed as secured in your Shopify balance (not necessarily your bank account) would remove all doubt. Furthermore, be careful if your payment setup includes chargeback risk, holds, refunds, or any condition that means the price is not truly secured, because Salam requires full payment and clear certainty at the time of contract.

There is no explicit condition in the Salam framework that requires you to label yourself as a “dropshipper.” Since for dropshipping under a Salam-style arrangement, transparency is important, the customer should know the delivery method, delivery time, product description, quality and workmanship, and the fact that the item will be shipped later from the agreed supply chain, leaving no ambiguity that may lead to a dispute at the time of future delivery.

Furthermore, the time and place of delivery must be specified in the contract. So, some form of disclosure that products are shipped directly from China can support transparency, but the wording should be enough to avoid deception and misunderstanding, not merely to satisfy a technical formality.

So the practical answer is: stating that products are shipped directly from China is sufficient — and in fact necessary — not because you need to say you are a dropshipper, but because it sets the accurate expectation for delivery times and manages the customer’s understanding of the transaction. You can phrase it in a customer-friendly way, such as: “Our products are shipped internationally directly to your door. Please allow 2-3 weeks for delivery.” Or “Orders are fulfilled through our supply partners and shipped directly from the warehouse to the customer. Delivery times may vary.”  This satisfies the Salam requirement for transparency around delivery without necessarily deterring customers with technical terminology.

(The above reply is based on the following resources:

  • The International Islamic Fiqh Academy (IIFA), headquartered in Jeddah, KSA
  • Islamweb.net, a website belonging to the Ministry of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs in the State of Qatar)

Allahu A’lam (Allah (سبحانه و تعالى) knows best) and all Perfections belong to Allah, and all mistakes belong to me alone. May Allah (سبحانه و تعالى) forgive me, Ameen.

Wassalaam