Hadith 33222

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."