Commercial Transactions (Kitab Al-Buyu)

كتاب البيوع

Chapter 22: Regarding The Explanation Of 'Araya

'Abd Rabbihi b. Sa'id al-Ansari said

'Ariyyah means that a man gives another man a palm-tree on loan, or it means that reserves one or two palm-trees from his property for his personal use, then he sells for dried dates.

Ibn Ishaq said

'Araya means that a man lends another man some palm-trees, but he (the owner) feels inconvenient that the man looks after the trees (by frequent visits). He (the borrower) sells them (to the owner) by calculation.

Chapter 23: Regarding Selling Crops Before They Are Ripe

Narrated 'Abdullah bin 'Umar

The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) forbade the sale of fruits till they were clearly in good condition, forbidding it both to the seller and to the buyer.

Narrated Ibn 'Umar

The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) forbade selling palm-trees till the dates began to ripen, and ears of corn till they were white and were safe from blight, forbidding it both to the buyer and to the seller.

Narrated AbuHurayrah

The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) forbade to sell spoils of war till they are appointed, and to sell palm trees till they are safe from every blight, and a man praying without tying belt.

Narrated Jabir bin ‘Abdullah

The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) forbade the sale of fruits until they are ripened (tushqihah). He was asked: What do you mean by their ripening (ishqah)? He replied: They become red or yellow, and they are eaten.

Narrated Anas ibn Malik

The Prophet (ﷺ) forbade the sale of grapes till they became black and the sale of grain till it had become hard.

Yunus said

He replied: Urwah ibn az-Zubayr reports a tradition from Sahl ibn Abi Hathmah on the authority of Zayd ibn Thabit who said: The people used to sell fruits before they were clearly in good condition. When the people cut off the fruits, and were demanded to pay the price, the buyer said: The fruits have been smitten by duman, qusham and murad fruit diseases on which they used to dispute. When their disputes which were brought to the Prophet (ﷺ) increased, the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said to them as an advice: No, do not sell fruits till they are in good condition, due to a large number of their disputes and differences.

Narrated Jabir ibn Abdullah

The Prophet (ﷺ) forbade the sale of fruits till they were clearly in good condition , and (ordered that) they should not be sold but for dinar or dirham except Araya.

Chapter 24: Regarding Selling Crops Years In Advance

Narrated Jabir ibn Abdullah

The Prophet (ﷺ) forbade selling fruits years ahead, and commanded that unforeseen loss be remitted in respect of what is affected by blight.

Abu Dawud said: The attribution of the tradition regarding the effect of blight is one-third of the produce to the Prophet (ﷺ) is not correct. This is the opinion of the people of Medina.

Narrated Jabir bin ‘Abdullah

The Prophet (ﷺ) forbade sale of fruits for a number of years. One of the two narrators (Abu al-Zubair and Sa'id b. Mina') mentioned the words "sale for years" (bai' al-sinin instead of al-mu'awamah).

Chapter 25: Regarding Transactions Involving Ambiguity

Narrated Abu Hurairah

The Prophet (ﷺ) forbade the type of sale which involves risk (or uncertainty) and a transaction determined by throwing stones.

Narrated Abu Sa’id Al Khudri

The Prophet (ﷺ) forbade two types of business transactions and two ways of dressing. The two types of business transactions are mulamasah and munabadhah. As regards the two ways of dressing, they are the wrapping of the samma', and that when a man wraps himself up in a single garment while sitting in such a way that he does not cover his private parts or there is no garment on his private parts.

The tradition mentioned above has also been reported by Abu Sa'id al-Khudri from the Prophet (ﷺ) through a different chain of narrators. This version adds

"Wearing the samma' means that a man puts his garment over his left shoulder and keeps his right side uncovered. Munabadhah means that a man says (to another): If I throw this garment to you, the sale will be certain. Mulamasah means that a man touches it (another's garment) with his hand and neither he unfolds it nor turns it over. When he touched it, the sale becomes binding.

The tradition mentioned above has also been transmitted by Abu Said al-Khudri through a different chain of narrators from the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) to the same effect as narrated by both Sufyan and 'Abd al-Razzaq.

Narrated Ibn 'Umar

The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) forbade the transaction called habal al-habalah.

A similar tradition has also been narrated by Ibn 'Umar from the Prophet (ﷺ) through a different chain of transmitters. He said

Habal al-habalah means that a she-camel delivers an offspring and then the offspring which it delivers becomes pregnant.

Chapter 26: Regarding Forced Sales

Narrated Ali ibn AbuTalib

A time is certainly coming to mankind when people will bite each other and a rich man will hold fast, what he has in his possession (i.e. his property), though he was not commanded for that. Allah, Most High, said: "And do not forget liberality between yourselves." The men who are forced will contract sale while the Prophet (ﷺ) forbade forced contract, one which involves some uncertainty, and the sale of fruit before it is ripe.

Chapter 27: Regarding Partnerships

Narrated AbuHurayrah

The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) having said: Allah, Most High, says: "I make a third with two partners as long as one of them does not cheat the other, but when he cheats him, I depart from them."

Chapter 28: Regarding An Agent Doing Something Other Than What He Was Instructed To Do

Narrated Urwah ibn AbulJa'd al-Bariqi

The Prophet (ﷺ) gave him a dinar to buy a sacrificial animal or a sheep. He bought two sheep, sold one of them for a dinar, and brought him a sheep and dinar. So he invoked a blessing on him in his business dealing, and he was such that if had he bought dust he would have made a profit from it.