Business Transactions

Yahya related to me from Malik from Abu'r-Rijal, Muhammad ibnAbdar-Rahman ibn Haritha that his mother, Amra bint Abd ar-Rahman usedto sell her fruit and keep some of it aside.

Malik said, "Thegenerally agreed upon way of doing things among us is that when a mansells the fruit of his orchard, he can keep aside up to a third of thefruit, but that is not to be exceeded. There is no harm in what isless than a third."

Malik added that he thought there was noharm for a man to sell the fruit of his orchard and keep aside onlythe fruit of a certain palm-tree or palm-trees which he had chosen andwhose number he had specified, because the owner was only keepingaside certain fruit of his own orchard and everything else he sold.

Yahya related to me from Malik from Zayd ibn Aslam that Ata ibnYasar said, "The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant himpeace, said, 'Dried dates for dried dates is like for like.' It wassaid to him, 'Your agent in Khaybar takes one sa for two.' TheMessenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said,'all him to me.' So he was called for. The Messenger of Allah, mayAllah bless him and grant him peace, asked, 'Do you take one sa fortwo?' He replied, 'Messengerof Allah! Why should they sell me gooddates for assorted low quality dates, sa for sa!' The Messenger ofAllah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, 'Sell theassorted ones for dirhams, and then buy the good ones with thosedirhams.' "

Yahya related to me from Malik from Abd al-Hamid ibn Suhayl ibnAbd ar-Rahman ibn Awf from Said ibn al-Musayyab from Abu Said al-Khudri and from Abu Hurayra that the Messenger of Allah, may Allahbless him and grant him peace, appointed a man as an agent in Khaybar,and he brought him some excellent dates. The Messenger of Allah, mayAllah bless him and grant him peace, said to him, "Are all the datesof Khaybar like this?" He said,"No. By Allah, Messenger of Allah! Wetake a sa of this kind for two sa or two sa for three." The Messengerof Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, "Do not dothat. Sell the assorted ones for dirhams and then buy the good oneswith the dirhams."

Yahya related to me from Malik from Abdullah ibn Yazid that Zaydibn Ayyash told him that he had once asked Sad ibn Abi Waqqas aboutselling white wheat for a type of good barley. Sad asked him which wasthe better and when he told him the white wheat, he forbade thetransaction. Sad said, "I heard the Messenger of Allah, may Allahbless him and grant him peace, being asked about selling dried datesfor fresh dates, and the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him andgrant him peace, said, 'Do the dates diminish in size when they becomedry?' When he was told that they did, he forbade that."

Yahya related to me from Malik from Nafi from Abdullah ibn Umarthat the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace,forbade muzabana. Muzabana was selling fresh dates for dried dates bymeasure, and selling grapes for raisins by measure.

Yahya related to me from Malik from Da'ud ibn al-Husayn from AbuSufyan, the mawla of Ibn Abi Ahmad, from Abu Said al-Khudri that theMessenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, forbademuzabana and muhaqala. Muzabana was selling fresh dates for drieddates while they were still on the trees. Muhaqala was renting land inexchange for wheat.

Yahya related to me from Malik from Ibn Shihab from Said ibn al-Musayyab that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and granthim peace, forbade muzabana and muhaqala. Muzabana was selling freshdates for dried dates. Muhaqala was buying unharvested wheat inexchange for threshed wheat and renting land in exchange for wheat.

Ibn Shihab added that he had asked Said ibn al-Musayyab aboutrenting land for gold and silver. He said, "There is no harm in it."

Malik said, "The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him andgrant him peace, forbade muzabana. The explanation of muzabana is thatit is buying something whose number, weight and measure is not knownwith something whose number, weight or measure is known, for instance,if a man has a stack of food whose measure is not known, either ofwheat, dates, or whatever food, or the man has goods of wheat, datekernels, herbs, safflower, cotton, flax, silk, and does not know itsmeasure or weight or number and then a buyer approaches him andproposes that he weigh or measure or count the goods, but, before hedoes, he specifies a certain weight, or measure, or number andguarantees to pay the price for that amount, agreeing that whateverfalls short of that amount is a loss against him and whatever is inexcess of that amount is a gain for him. That is not a sale. It istaking risks and it is an uncertain transaction. It falls into thecategory of gambling because he is not buying something from him forsomething definite which he pays. Everything which resembles this isalso forbidden."

Malik said that another example of that was,for instance, a man proposing to another man, "You have cloth. I willguarantee you from this cloth of yours so many hooded cloaks, themeasureof each cloak to be such-and-such, (naming a measurement).Whatever loss there is, is against me and I will fulfill you thespecified amount and whatever excess there is, is mine." Or perhapsthe man proposed, "I will guarantee you from this cloth of yours somany shirts, the measurement of each shirt to be such-and-such, andwhatever loss there is, is against me and I will fulfill the specifiedamount and whatever excess there is, is mine." Or perhaps a manproposed to a man who had cattle or camel hides, "I will cut up thesehides of yours into sandals on a pattern I will show you. Whateverfalls short of a hundred pairs, I will make up its loss and whateveris over is mine because I guaranteed you." Another example was that aman say to a man who had ben-nuts, "I will press these nuts of yours.Whatever falls short of such-and-such a weight by the pound, I willmake it up, and whatever is more than that is mine."

Maliksaid that all this and whatever else was like it or resembled it wasin the category of muzabana, which was neither good nor permitted. Itwas also the same case for a man to say to a man, who had fodderleaves, date kernels, cotton, flax, herbs or safflower, "I will buythese leaves from you in exchange for such-and-such a sa, (indicatingleaves which are pounded like his leaves) . . or these date kernelsfor such-and-such a sa of kernels like them, and the like of that inthe case of safflower, cotton, flax and herbs."

Malik said,"All this is what we have described of muzabana."

Malik said, "There is no harm in buying dates from specifiedtrees or a specified orchard or buying milk from specified sheep whenthe buyer starts to take them as soon as he has payed the price. Thatis like buying oil from a container. A man buys some of it for a dinaror two and gives his gold and stipulates that it be measured out forhim. There is no harm in that. If the container breaks and the oil iswasted, the buyer has his gold back and there is no transactionbetween them."

Malik said, "There is no harm in everythingwhich is taken right away as it is, like fresh milk and fresh pickeddates which the buyer can take on a day-to-day basis. If the supplyruns out before the buyer has what he has paid for in full, the sellergives him back the portion of the gold that is owed to him, or elsethe buyer takes other goods from him to the value of what he is owedand which they mutually agree about. The buyer should stay with theseller until he has taken it. It is disapproved of for the seller toleave because the transaction would then come into the forbiddencategory of a debt for a debt. If a stated time period for payment ordelivery enters into the transaction, it is also disapproved. Delayand deferment are not permitted in it, and are only acceptable when itis standard practice on definite terms by which the seller guaranteesit to the buyer, but this is not to be from one specific orchard orfrom any specific ewes."

Malik was asked about a man whobought an orchard from another man in which there were various typesof palm-trees - excellent ajwa palms, good kabis palms, adhq palms andothertypes. The seller kept aside from the sale the produce of acertain palm of his choice. Malik said, "That is not good because ifhe does that, and keeps aside, for instance, dates of the ajwa varietywhose yield would be 15 sa, and he picks the dates of the kabis intheir place, and the yield of their dates is 10 sa or he picks theajwa which yield 15 sa and leaves the kabis which yield 10 sa, it isas if he bought the ajwa for the kabis making allowances for theirdifference of quality. This is the same as if a man dealing with a manwho has heaps of dates before him - a heap of 15 sa of ajwa, a heap of10 sa of kabis, and a heap of 12 sa of cadhq, gives the owner of thedates a dinar to let him choose and take whichever of the heaps helikes." Malik said, "That is not good."

Malik was asked whata man who bought fresh dates from the owner of an orchard and advancedhim a dinar was entitled to if the crop was spoilt. Malik said, "Thebuyer makes a reckoning with the owner of the orchard and takes whatis due to him of the dinar. If the buyer has taken two-thirds of adinar's worth of dates, he gets back the third of a dinar which isowed him. If the buyer has taken three-quarters of a dinar's worth ofdates, then he gets back the quarter which is owed to him, or theycome to a mutual agreement, and the buyer takes what is owed him fromhis dinar from the owner of the orchard in something else of hischoosing. If, for instance, he prefers to take dry dates or some othergoods, he takes them according to what is due. If he takes dry datesor some other goods, he should stay with him until he has been paid infull."

Malik said, "This is the same situation as hiring outa specified riding-camel or hiring out a slave tailor, carpenter orsome other kind of worker or letting a house and taking payment inadvance for the hire of the slave or the rent of the house or camel.Then an accident happens to what has been hired resulting in death orsomething else. The owner of the camel, slave or house returns whatremains of the rent of the camel, the hire of the slave or the rent ofthe house to the one who advanced him the money, and the owner reckonswhat will settle that up in full. If, for instance, he has providedhalf of what the man paid for, he returns the remaining half of whathe advanced, or according to whatever amount is due." Malik said,"Paying in advance for something which is on hand is only good whenthe buyer takes possession of what he has paid for as soon as he handsover the gold, whether it be slave, camel, or house, or in the case ofdates, he starts to pick them as soon as he has paid the money."

It is not good that there be any deferment or credit in such atransaction.

Malik said, "An example illustrating what isdisapproved of in this situation is that, for instance, a man may saythat he will pay someone in advance for the use of his camel to ridein the hajj, and the hajj is still some time off, or he may saysomething similar to that about a slave or a house. When he does that,he only pays the money in advance on the understanding that if hefinds the camel to be sound at the time the hire is due to begin, hewill take it by virtue of what he has already paid. If an accident, ordeath, or something happens to the camel, then he will get his moneyback and the money he paid in advance will be considered as a loan."

Malik said, "This is distinct from someone who takesimmediate possession of what he rents or hires, so that it does notfall into the category of 'uncertainty,' or disapproved payment inadvance. That is following a common practice. An example of that isthat a man buys a slave, or slave-girl, and takes possession of themand pays their price. If something happens to them within the periodof the year indemnification contract, he takes his gold back from theone from whom he bought it. There is no harm in that. This is theprecedent of the sunna in the matter of selling slaves."

Malik said, "Someone who rents a specified slave, or hires a specifiedcamel, for a future date, at which time he will take possession of thecamel or slave, has not acted properly because he did not takepossession of what he rented or hired, nor is he advancing a loanwhich the person is responsible to pay back."

Malik said, "The generally agreed on way of doing things among usis that some one who buys some fruit, fresh or dry, should not resellit until he gets full possession of it. He should not barter things ofthe same type, except hand to hand. Whatever can be made into dryfruit to be stored and eaten, should not be bartered for its own kind,except hand to hand, like for like, when it is the same kind of fruit.In the case of two different kinds of fruit, there is no harm inbartering two of one kind for one of another, hand to hand on thespot. It is not good to set delayed terms. As for produce which is notdried and stored but is eaten fresh like water melon, cucumber, melon,carrots, citron, medlars, pomegranates, and soon, which when dried nolonger counts as fruit, and is not a thing which is stored up as isfruit, I think that it is quite proper to barter such things two forone of the same variety hand to hand. If no term enters into it, thereis no harm in it."

Yahya related to me from Malik that Yahya ibn Said said, "TheMessenger of Allah, mayAllah bless him and grant him peace, orderedthe two Sads to sell a vessel made of either gold or silver from thebooty. They either sold each three units of weight for four units ofweight of coins or each four units of weight for three units of weightor coins. The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant himpeace, said to them, 'You have taken usury, so return it.' "

Yahya related to me from Malik from Musa ibn Abi Tamim from Abu'lHubab Said ibn Yasar from Abu Hurayra that the Messenger of Allah, mayAllah bless him and grant him peace, said, "A dinar for a dinar, adirham for a dirham, no excess between the two."

Yahya related to me from Malik from Nafi from Abu Said al-Khudrithat the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace,said, "Do not sell gold for gold except like for like and do notincrease one part over another part. Do not sell silver for silver,except like for like and do not increase one part over another part.Do not sell some of it which is not there for some of it which is."

Yahya related to me from Malik from Humayd ibn Qays al-Makki thatMujahid said, "I was with Abdullah ibn Umar and an artisan came to himand said, 'Abu Abd ar-Rahman - I fashion gold and then sell what Ihave made for more than its weight. I take an amount equivalent to thework of my hand.' Abdullah forbade him to do that, so the artisanrepeated the question to him, and Abdullah continued to forbid himuntil he came to the door of the mosque or to an animal that heintended to mount. Then Abdullah ibn Umar said, 'A dinar for a dinar,and a dirham for a dirham. There is no increase between them. This isthe command of ourProphet to us and our advice to you.' "

Yahya related to me from Malik that he had heard from hisgrandfather, Malik ibn Abi Amir that Uthman ibn Affan said, "TheMessenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said tome, 'Do not sell a dinar for two dinars nor a dirham for two dirhams.'"

Yahya related to me from Malik from Zayd ibn Aslam from Ata ibnYasar that Muawiya ibn Abi Sufyan sold a gold or silver drinking-vessel for more than its weight. Abu'dDarda said, "I heard theMessenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace,forbidding such sales except like for like." Muawiya said to him, "Idon't see any harm in it." Abu'd-Darda said to him, "Who will excuseme from Muawiya? I tell him something from the Messenger of Allah, mayAllah bless him and grant him peace, and he gives me his own opinion!I will not live in the same land as you!" Then Abu'd-Darda went toUmar ibn al-Khattab and mentioned that to him. Umar ibn al-Khattabtherefore wrote to Muawiya, "Do not sell it except like for like,weight for weight."

Yahya related to me from Malik from Nafi from Abdullah ibn Umarthat Umar ibn al-Khattab said, "Do not sell gold for gold except likefor like, and do not increase one part over another part. Do not sellsilver for silver except like for like, and do not increase one partover another part. Do not sell silver for gold, one of them at handand the other to be given later. If someone seeks to delay paying youuntil he has been to his house, do not leave him. I fear rama foryou." Rama is usury.

Yahya related to me from Malik from Abdullah ibn Dinar fromAbdullah ibn Umar that Umar ibn al-Khattab said, "Do not sell gold forgold except like for like. Do not increase part of it over anotherpart. Do not sell silver for silver except like for like, and do notincrease part of it over another part. Do not sell some of it which isthere for some of it which is not. If someone asks you to wait forpayment until he has been to his house, do not leave him. I fear ramafor you." Rama is usury.

Yahya related to me from Malik that he had heard that al-Oasimibn Muhammad said, ''Umar ibn al-Khattab said, 'A dinar for a dinar,and a dirham for adirham, and a sa for a sa. Something to be collectedlater is not to be sold for something at hand. ' "

Yahya related to me from Malik that Yahya ibn Said heard Said ibnal-Musayyab say, "Keeping gold and silver out of circulation is partof working corruption in the land."

Malik said, "There is noharm in buying gold with silver or silver with gold without measuringif it is unminted or a piece of jewellery which has been made. Counteddirhams and counted dinars should not be bought without reckoninguntil they are known and counted. To abandon number and buy them atrandom would only be to speculate. That is not part of the businesstransactions of Muslims. As for what is weighed of unminted objectsand jewellery, there is no harm in buying such things withoutmeasuring. To buy them without measuring is like buying wheat, drieddates, and such food-stuffs, which are sold without measuring, eventhough things like them are measured "

Malik spoke aboutbuying a Qur'an, a sword or a signet ring which had some gold orsilver work on it with dinars or dirhams. He said, "The value of theobject bought with dinars, which has gold in it is looked at. If thevalue of the gold is up to one-third of the price, it is permitted andthere is no harm in it if the sale is hand to hand and there is nodeferment in it. When something is bought with silver which has silverin it, the value is looked at. If the value of the silver is one-third, it is permitted and there is no harm in it if the sale is handto hand. That is still the way of doing things among us."

Yahya related to me from Malik from Ibn Shihab from Malik ibn Ausibn al-Hadathan an-Nasri that one time he asked to exchange 100dinars. He said, "Talha ibn Ubaydullah called me over and we made amutual agreement that he would make an exchange for me. He took thegold and turned it about in his hand, and then said, 'I can't do ituntil my treasurer brings the money to me from al-Ghaba.' Umar ibn al-Khattab was listening and Umar said, 'By Allah! Do not leave him untilyou have taken it from him!' Then he said, 'The Messenger of Allah,may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, "Gold for silver isusury except hand to hand. Wheat for wheat is usury except hand tohand. Dates for dates is usury except hand to hand. Barley for barleyis usury except hand to hand." "'

Malik said, "When a manbuys dirhams with dinars and then finds a bad dirham among them andwants to return it, the exchange of the dinars breaks down, and hereturns the silver and takes back his dinars. The explanation of whatis disapproved of in that is that the Messenger of Allah, may Allahbless him and grant him peace, said, 'Gold for silver is usury excepthand to hand.' and Umar ibn al-Khattab said, 'If someone asks you towait to be paid until he has gone back to his house, do not leavehim.' When he returns a dirham to him from the exchange after he hasleft him, it is like a debt or something deferred. For that reason, itis disapproved of, and the exchange collapses. Umar ibn al-Khattabwanted that all gold, silver and food should not be sold for goods tobe paid later. He did not want there to be any delay or deferment inany such sale, whether it involved one commodity or different sorts ofcommodities."