Sunan Ibn Majah
The Chapters on Business Transactions
كتاب التجارات
Chapter 49
مَنْ قَالَ لاَ رِبَا إِلاَّ فِي النَّسِيئَةِ
Unreviewed translation. All hadiths in this collection are available in five languages. Titles and introductions may remain in Arabic.
Abu Hurairah said: I heard Abu Saʿid al-Khudri say, ‘A dirham for a dirham and a dinar for a dinar.’ I said, ‘I heard Ibn ʿAbbas say otherwise.’ He replied, ‘I did meet Ibn ʿAbbas, and I asked him: “Tell me about what you say concerning currency exchange: is it something you heard from the Messenger of Allah, or something you found in the Book of Allah?” He said, “I found it neither in the Book of Allah nor heard it from the Messenger of Allah. Rather, Usamah ibn Zayd told me that the Messenger of Allah said: ‘Usury is only in deferred exchange.’”’
Notes and open questions — unreviewed
The report juxtaposes the equal-for-equal statement attributed to Abu Saʿid with Ibn ʿAbbas’s report from Usamah that usury is only in deferred exchange. ‘Currency exchange’ renders al-sarf in context.
Unreviewed translation. All hadiths in this collection are available in five languages. Titles and introductions may remain in Arabic.
Abu al-Jawzaʾ said: I heard him—I mean Ibn ʿAbbas—command currency exchange, and that was related from him. Then it reached me that he had retracted that position, so I met him in Mecca and said, ‘I have heard that you retracted it.’ He said, ‘Yes. That had only been my own opinion, whereas Abu Saʿid reports from the Messenger of Allah that he forbade currency exchange.’
Notes and open questions — unreviewed
The pronoun in ‘I heard him’ is identified by the source’s parenthetical gloss as Ibn ʿAbbas. The word ṣarf is rendered ‘currency exchange’ in context.
بِالصَّرْفِ - يَعْنِي ابْنَ عَبَّاسٍ - وَيُحَدَّثُ ذَلِكَ عَنْهُ ثُمَّ بَلَغَنِي أَنَّهُ رَجَعَ عَنْ ذَلِكَ فَلَقِيتُهُ بِمَكَّةَ فَقُلْتُ إِنَّهُ بَلَغَنِي أَنَّكَ رَجَعْتَ .
The sentence says that the command to engage in ṣarf ‘was related from him’; the precise scope of this indirect report is not elaborated.
Does the wording refer simply to a position attributed to Ibn ʿAbbas, as translated here?
Chapter 50
صَرْفِ الذَّهَبِ بِالْوَرِقِ
Unreviewed translation. All hadiths in this collection are available in five languages. Titles and introductions may remain in Arabic.
ʿUmar reported that the Messenger of Allah said: ‘Gold exchanged for silver is usury unless it is hand to hand.’ Abu Bakr ibn Abi Shaybah said: I heard Sufyan say, ‘Gold exchanged for silver—remember this.’
Notes and open questions — unreviewed
Al-wariq refers to silver currency. The expression hāʾ wa-hāʾ denotes an immediate, hand-to-hand exchange.
Unreviewed translation. All hadiths in this collection are available in five languages. Titles and introductions may remain in Arabic.
Malik ibn Aws ibn al-Hadathan said: I came asking, ‘Who will exchange dirhams?’ Talhah ibn ʿUbayd Allah, who was with ʿUmar ibn al-Khattab, said, ‘Show us your gold, then come back when our treasurer arrives; we will give you your silver.’ ʿUmar said, ‘No, by Allah! You must give him his silver now, or return his gold to him. The Messenger of Allah said: “Silver exchanged for gold is usury unless it is hand to hand.”’
Notes and open questions — unreviewed
Al-wariq is rendered ‘silver’; hāʾ wa-hāʾ indicates an immediate, hand-to-hand exchange. The narrator’s opening is understood as seeking someone to exchange his dirhams.
Unreviewed translation. All hadiths in this collection are available in five languages. Titles and introductions may remain in Arabic.
ʿAli reported that the Messenger of Allah said: ‘A dinar is for a dinar and a dirham for a dirham, with no surplus between them. Whoever needs silver, let him exchange it for gold; and whoever needs gold, let him exchange it for silver. Currency exchange must be hand to hand.’
Notes and open questions — unreviewed
The report’s chain ends ‘from his father, from his grandfather’; in this family chain, the grandfather is understood as ʿAli ibn Abi Talib. Al-wariq is rendered ‘silver’.
قَالَ قَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ ـ صلى الله عليه وسلم ـ " الدِّينَارُ بِالدِّينَارِ وَالدِّرْهَمُ بِالدِّرْهَمِ لاَ فَضْلَ بَيْنَهُمَا فَمَنْ كَانَتْ لَهُ حَاجَةٌ بِوَرِقٍ فَلْيَصْطَرِفْهَا بِذَهَبٍ وَمَنْ كَانَتْ لَهُ حَاجَةٌ بِذَهَبٍ فَلْيَصْطَرِفْهَا بِالْوَرِقِ وَالصَّرْفُ هَاءَ وَهَاءَ " .
The report gives an abbreviated family chain ending ‘from his father, from his grandfather’; the identification of the speaker with ʿAli is inferred from the names in the chain.
Is the grandfather at the end of the chain ʿAli ibn Abi Talib, as rendered here?
Chapter 51
اقْتِضَاءِ الذَّهَبِ مِنَ الْوَرِقِ وَالْوَرِقِ مِنَ الذَّهَبِ
Unreviewed translation. All hadiths in this collection are available in five languages. Titles and introductions may remain in Arabic.
Ibn ʿUmar said: I used to sell camels and would take gold for silver, silver for gold, dinars for dirhams, and dirhams for dinars. I asked the Prophet, and he said: ‘When you take one and give the other, do not part from your counterpart while anything remains unsettled between you.’ A second chain reports it from Ibn ʿUmar, from the Prophet, with similar wording.
Notes and open questions — unreviewed
Atāʾ ibn al-Saʾib or Simak is named as the transmitter, and the narrator says he knows it to have been Simak. The phrase ‘while anything remains unsettled between you’ conveys the literal wording about there being some ambiguity or confusion between the parties.
فَسَأَلْتُ النَّبِيَّ ـ صلى الله عليه وسلم ـ فَقَالَ " إِذَا أَخَذْتَ أَحَدَهُمَا وَأَعْطَيْتَ الآخَرَ فَلاَ تُفَارِقْ صَاحِبَكَ وَبَيْنَكَ وَبَيْنَهُ لَبْسٌ " .
The expression ‘while there is labas between you’ is not fully explicit about the kind of confusion or unsettled matter intended.
Does this refer broadly to any unsettled part of the exchange, as rendered here?
Chapter 52
النَّهْىِ عَنْ كَسْرِ الدَّرَاهِمِ، وَالدَّنَانِيرِ
Unreviewed translation. All hadiths in this collection are available in five languages. Titles and introductions may remain in Arabic.
The Messenger of Allah forbade breaking the Muslims’ currency that is in circulation among them, except when there is a need.
Notes and open questions — unreviewed
The phrase refers to the accepted currency in circulation among Muslims; ‘breaking’ is kept close to the source wording, whose precise action is not explained in this report.
قَالَ نَهَى رَسُولُ اللَّهِ ـ صلى الله عليه وسلم ـ عَنْ كَسْرِ سِكَّةِ الْمُسْلِمِينَ الْجَائِزَةِ بَيْنَهُمْ إِلاَّ مِنْ بَأْسٍ " .
The report forbids kasr of the accepted currency but does not specify whether this means physically breaking coins, clipping them, or another form of currency destruction.
What specific action is intended by ‘breaking’ the currency here?
Chapter 53
بَيْعِ الرُّطَبِ بِالتَّمْرِ
Unreviewed translation. All hadiths in this collection are available in five languages. Titles and introductions may remain in Arabic.
Zayd, Abu ʿAyyash, the freedman of Banu Zuhrah, told him that he had asked Saʿd ibn Abi Waqqas about exchanging white wheat for sult. Saʿd asked, ‘Which of the two is better?’ He replied, ‘The white wheat.’ Saʿd forbade me to do that and said, ‘I heard the Messenger of Allah being asked about exchanging fresh dates for dried dates. He asked, “Do fresh dates decrease when they dry?” They said, “Yes.” So he forbade that.’
Notes and open questions — unreviewed
Sult is retained as the name of a grain, commonly identified as a kind of barley. Al-bayda means ‘the white [grain]’; the source does not further identify it here.
سَأَلَ سَعْدَ بْنَ أَبِي وَقَّاصٍ عَنِ اشْتِرَاءِ الْبَيْضَاءِ،
The first grain is named only as al-bayda (‘the white one’), and the report does not specify its full grain name.
Is ‘white wheat’ the intended grain identification, as rendered here?
Chapter 54
الْمُزَابَنَةِ وَالْمُحَاقَلَةِ
Unreviewed translation. All hadiths in this collection are available in five languages. Titles and introductions may remain in Arabic.
ʿAbdullah ibn ʿUmar said: The Messenger of Allah forbade muzabana. Muzabana is when a man sells the dates on his orchard, if it has palm trees, for dates measured by volume; if it is a vineyard, he sells its grapes for raisins measured by volume; and if it is a field of crops, he sells them for a measured quantity of food. He forbade all of that.
Notes and open questions — unreviewed
Muzabana is retained as the named transaction and then explained by the report’s own definition. The source specifies measurement by volume but does not state the precise quantity in each exchange.
Unreviewed translation. All hadiths in this collection are available in five languages. Titles and introductions may remain in Arabic.
Jabir ibn ʿAbdullah reported that the Messenger of Allah forbade muhaqala and muzabana.
Notes and open questions — unreviewed
The two transaction names are transliterated, as this report supplies no definitions.
Unreviewed translation. All hadiths in this collection are available in five languages. Titles and introductions may remain in Arabic.
Rafiʿ ibn Khadij reported that the Messenger of Allah forbade muhaqala and muzabana.
Notes and open questions — unreviewed
The transaction names are retained in transliteration because this report gives no definitions.
Chapter 55
بَيْعِ الْعَرَايَا بِخَرْصِهَا تَمْرًا
Unreviewed translation. All hadiths in this collection are available in five languages. Titles and introductions may remain in Arabic.
Zayd ibn Thabit reported that the Messenger of Allah granted a concession concerning ʿaraya transactions.
Notes and open questions — unreviewed
ʿAraya is retained as a technical transaction term; this report does not define it.
Unreviewed translation. All hadiths in this collection are available in five languages. Titles and introductions may remain in Arabic.
ʿAbdullah ibn ʿUmar said: Zayd ibn Thabit told me that the Messenger of Allah granted a concession for selling an ʿariyya, exchanging it for dates according to its estimated yield. Yahya said: An ʿariyya is when a man buys the fresh dates of palm trees for his household’s food, in exchange for dried dates in a quantity estimated to equal them.
Notes and open questions — unreviewed
The report explains an ʿariyya transaction as an exchange of fresh dates from palm trees for dried dates, with the amount estimated by its expected yield.
قَالَ يَحْيَى الْعَرِيَّةُ أَنْ يَشْتَرِيَ الرَّجُلُ ثَمَرَ النَّخَلاَتِ بِطَعَامِ أَهْلِهِ رُطَبًا بِخَرْصِهَا تَمْرًا .
The phrase ‘the food of his household’ is connected to fresh dates by an elliptical construction; the intended exchange is clarified by the following estimate in dried dates.
Does the gloss describe buying the fresh date yield for household consumption against an estimated quantity of dried dates, as translated here?
Chapter 56
الْحَيَوَانِ بِالْحَيَوَانِ نَسِيئَةً
Unreviewed translation. All hadiths in this collection are available in five languages. Titles and introductions may remain in Arabic.
Samurah ibn Jundub reported that the Messenger of Allah forbade selling an animal for another animal on deferred terms.
Notes and open questions — unreviewed
The report states no further qualification about the animals or the form of deferment.
Unreviewed translation. All hadiths in this collection are available in five languages. Titles and introductions may remain in Arabic.
Jabir reported that the Messenger of Allah said: ‘There is no harm in exchanging one animal for two, hand to hand.’ He disapproved of doing so on deferred terms.
Notes and open questions — unreviewed
The report explicitly distinguishes an immediate exchange from a deferred one.
Chapter 57
الْحَيَوَانِ بِالْحَيَوَانِ مُتَفَاضِلاً يَدًا بِيَدٍ
Unreviewed translation. All hadiths in this collection are available in five languages. Titles and introductions may remain in Arabic.
Anas reported that the Prophet bought Safiyyah for seven persons. ʿAbd al-Rahman said: She was from Dihyah al-Kalbi.
Notes and open questions — unreviewed
The source literally says ‘seven heads’ and then identifies Safiyyah as coming from Dihyah al-Kalbi; ‘persons’ makes the count idiomatic in English while preserving the stated number.
أَنَّ النَّبِيَّ ـ صلى الله عليه وسلم ـ اشْتَرَى صَفِيَّةَ بِسَبْعَةِ أَرْؤُسٍ .
The source says ‘seven heads’ without specifying the persons or enslaved people being counted.
Does ‘seven persons’ adequately express the unstated counted category in this exchange?
Chapter 58
التَّغْلِيظِ فِي الرِّبَا
Unreviewed translation. All hadiths in this collection are available in five languages. Titles and introductions may remain in Arabic.
Abu Hurairah reported that the Messenger of Allah said: ‘On the night I was taken on the Night Journey, I came upon people whose bellies were like houses, with snakes visible inside them from outside their bellies. I said, “Who are these, Gabriel?” He replied, “These are those who consume usury.”’
Notes and open questions — unreviewed
The image of the snakes being visible from outside the bellies is retained as stated in the report.
Unreviewed translation. All hadiths in this collection are available in five languages. Titles and introductions may remain in Arabic.
Abu Hurairah reported that the Messenger of Allah said: ‘Usury has seventy sins; the least of them is for a man to marry his own mother.’
Notes and open questions — unreviewed
The report states the number seventy and describes the least of these sins as marrying one’s mother.
Unreviewed translation. All hadiths in this collection are available in five languages. Titles and introductions may remain in Arabic.
ʿAbdullah reported that the Prophet said: ‘Usury has seventy-three gates.’
Notes and open questions — unreviewed
The report gives the metaphorical expression ‘gates’ without further explanation.
Unreviewed translation. All hadiths in this collection are available in five languages. Titles and introductions may remain in Arabic.
ʿUmar ibn al-Khattab said: ‘The last of what was revealed was the verse on usury, and the Messenger of Allah died without explaining it to us. So leave usury and what is doubtful.’
Notes and open questions — unreviewed
The wording says ‘the last of what was revealed was the verse on usury’; it is rendered literally without specifying whether this means the final revelation overall or the final verse concerning usury.
قَالَ إِنَّ آخِرَ مَا نَزَلَتْ آيَةُ الرِّبَا وَإِنَّ رَسُولَ اللَّهِ ـ صلى الله عليه وسلم ـ قُبِضَ وَلَمْ يُفَسِّرْهَا لَنَا فَدَعُوا الرِّبَا وَالرِّيبَةَ .
The phrase ‘the last of what was revealed was the verse of usury’ does not explicitly state whether it means the last revelation overall or the last verse concerning usury.
What is the intended scope of ‘the last of what was revealed’ here?