Answer
In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.
All praise and thanks are due to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon His Messenger.
In this fatwa:
Paying for goods or services in a foreign currency through a credit card does not necessarily involve riba, as the transaction can be understood as an agency arrangement rather than a currency sale between the buyer and seller. By contrast, speculative Forex transactions involving unreal or fictitious sales and purchases are considered impermissible in the view expressed here.
Responding to your question, Prof. Dr. Monzer Kahf, Professor of Islamic Finance and Economics at Qatar Faculty of Islamic Studies, states:
For the purchase of goods and services, you may pay using a credit card across countries and currencies. In fact, if we understand the mechanism of the transaction, we realize that it contains no Riba of sale (or of Sarf, i.e., the exchange of two currencies). The transaction becomes as follows (interpreted using Shari`ah concepts and language): You appoint an agent to pay $100 on your behalf; the agent does that and immediately converts the amount to your currency, and then you pay your agent. There is no sale of currency done between you and the seller.
On the other hand, Forex platforms offer different kinds of transactions that are based on speculation and on fake sales and purchases (only on the internet, without reality). These are not permissible in my view.
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Almighty Allah knows best.
