A ruse/ trick/ stratagem that is used in commercial or financial transactions as a means to circumvent the basic prohibitions defined by shari’ah. In other words, it is a canonical device (legal stratagem) that is resorted to in an attempt to bypass the intentions of shari’ah without technically breaching or violating it. Some hiyal (pl. of hilah) involve an outright breaking of shari’ah injunctions. However, not every hilah necessarily entails a ruse or trick. Some hiyal are permissible, as they offer solutions to otherwise abstruse problems or hardships. For example, in order to go around the prohibition of riba, a borrower may sell something to his lender at a price which is less than its actual price, or the borrower may buy something from the lender at a price higher than its actual price.