[apta_]

One important thing to note is that Islam also prohibits chaining together permitted contracts, with the intention being trying to circumvent or dance around the prohibition. For example, you and I can engage in the following set of transactions: I can sell you my phone for a certain price in installments (say $120 over 12 months, and $120 is the fair market value). Then, I go back and buy back my phone from you for $100 cash. The net result is that I paid you $100 and you owe me $120 over the course of the year. This is clearly usury, and placing an item in between is just kidding ourselves.

The same applies to more elaborate schemes that involve multiple parties or transactions. For example, it is possible to engage in a futures contract with the intention of gambling (buy oil or some commodity, and never take delivery of it and sell it immediately when the contract is due). This is gambling, your intention was never to actually possess the item, but only to immediately sell and either make a loss or profit.