The Beauties of the Islamic Law in the Rulings of Sales
(The characteristics of a blessed sale – Examples of the beauties of the Sharīʿah in sales – The ease of the Sharīʿah and the removal of hardship)
The First Sermon
All praise is due to Allah, who established His religion and placed no crookedness in it, and made His Sharīʿah easy, placing in it neither restriction nor hardship. I bear witness that there is no deity worthy of worship except Allah alone, without partner, and I bear witness that Muḥammad is His servant and Messenger. May Allah send abundant peace and blessings upon him.
To proceed:
Fear Allah, servants of Allah, as He truly deserves to be feared, and remain mindful of Him in private and in secret.
يَاأَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا اتَّقُوا اللَّهَ حَقَّ تُقَاتِهِ وَلَا تَمُوتُنَّ إِلَّا وَأَنْتُمْ مُسْلِمُونَ
“O you who believe, fear Allah as He should truly be feared, and do not die except as Muslims.” [Sūrat Āl ʿImrān: 102]
Servant of Allah:
There is a remarkable and beautiful report that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ conveyed to us from the Lord of the worlds concerning the Day of Resurrection. Allah, Glorified, will say:
“Look in the Fire. Do you find anyone who ever did any good?”
They will find a man in the Fire and ask him: “Did you ever do any good?”
He will say: “No, except that I used to be lenient with people when buying and selling.”
Allah, Mighty and Majestic, will then say: “Show leniency to My servant just as he showed leniency to My servants.” Narrated by Aḥmad.
How Generous is Allah! He makes a servant’s leniency in buying and selling a cause for His mercy and for his being brought out of the Fire.
Did our Prophet ﷺ not say: “May Allah have mercy upon a man who is easy-going when he sells, when he buys, and when he seeks repayment.” [Narrated by al-Bukhārī].
Servants of Allah:
People cannot do without buying and selling in this life, for it is among the necessities by which worldly life is maintained.
Since the perfect Sharīʿah came to secure benefits and perfect them, and to repel harms and reduce them, Allah permitted buying and selling. Indeed, the Sharīʿah made trade and providing for people’s needs among the best forms of earning and among the communal obligations.
The Prophet ﷺ was asked: “Which form of earning is best?”
He replied: “A man’s work with his own hands and every blessed sale.” Narrated by Aḥmad.
A blessed sale is one that does not violate the Sharīʿah and is founded upon honesty and clear disclosure. Its opposite is a sinful sale.
The perfect Sharīʿah has established a complete and just system for transactions between people, one that realizes their interests in both religion and worldly life and removes hardship and difficulty from them.
Among this are the principles governing buying and selling, through which the virtues of Islam and the beauty of its legislation become apparent, in contrast to man-made systems such as capitalism and liberalism.
The first of these is having a sound intention.
Islam makes the purpose of life the establishment of servitude to Allah alone, and this world is a field in which one sows for the Hereafter.
Buying and selling, for the Muslim, are means that must not come between him and obedience to Allah.
Thus, you find the Muslim, when buying and selling, adhering to the rulings of Islam, truthful and trustworthy, loving for the Muslims what he loves for himself. His trade does not distract him from his obligations, as Allah, Exalted, says:
رِجَالٌ لَا تُلْهِيهِمْ تِجَارَةٌ وَلَا بَيْعٌ عَنْ ذِكْرِ اللَّهِ وَإِقَامِ الصَّلَاةِ وَإِيتَاءِ الزَّكَاةِ
“Men whom neither trade nor sale distracts from the remembrance of Allah, the establishment of prayer, and giving zakāh.” [Sūrat al-Nūr: 37]
This is in contrast to the capitalist system, whose objective is to obtain profit and wealth by whatever means.
Among the beauties of the Sharīʿah of Islam is that it permits the sale of everything wholesome and beneficial, while prohibiting the sale of everything impure, harmful, or without benefit.
Whatever Allah has prohibited people from benefiting from, He has also prohibited trading in it.
The Messenger of Allah ﷺ established this as a general principle when he said: “Indeed, when Allah prohibits something for a people, He also prohibits its price.” [Narrated by Aḥmad].
For this reason, it is prohibited to sell statues, alcohol, cigarettes, musical instruments, gold fashioned as adornment for men, clothing of prohibited display for women, and everything else whose prohibition has been established.
Islam even prohibited selling something when it is known that it will be used for what is unlawful, because assisting in sin is itself sinful.
Thus, it is not permissible to sell grapes to someone known to be using them to make wine, nor to sell weapons during civil strife.
Under capitalism, however, anything that generates profit may be sold, and the only restriction upon this is what people themselves decide to prohibit, rather than what the Lord of mankind, the All-Knowing, the All-Wise, has prohibited.
Because wealth is a blessing from Allah and a means by which life is sustained, the Sharīʿah has prohibited extravagance and spending wealth on that which provides no benefit. Allah, Glorified, says:
وَكُلُوا وَاشْرَبُوا وَلَا تُسْرِفُوا إِنَّهُ لَا يُحِبُّ الْمُسْرِفِينَ
“Eat and drink, but do not be extravagant. Indeed, He does not love those who are extravagant.” [Sūrat al-Aʿrāf: 31]
And the Prophet ﷺ said: “Eat, give in charity, and dress without extravagance or arrogance.” [Narrated by al-Nasāʾī].
Therefore, it is not permissible to purchase something extremely expensive merely for boasting and showing off.
We have even heard of people purchasing goats for hundreds of thousands and adorning them with gold out of boastfulness and pride.
Do these people not know that Allah will question them on the Day of Resurrection about their wealth—where they acquired it and how they spent it?
In the Sharīʿah, the human being is a servant of Allah, not a servant of his desires and cravings.
In modern liberalism, however, the human being is treated as a consumer whose money is the objective. Things he does not need are therefore manufactured for him and presented through the most attractive advertising, making him imagine that he is in need of them.
He thus remains constantly laboring to satisfy artificially created needs, even if he must incur severe interest-bearing debt.
Among the beauties of the Sharīʿah is that Allah has prohibited everything that involves consuming people’s wealth unlawfully. Allah, Glorified, says:
يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا لَا تَأْكُلُوا أَمْوَالَكُمْ بَيْنَكُمْ بِالْبَاطِلِ إِلَّا أَنْ تَكُونَ تِجَارَةً عَنْ تَرَاضٍ مِنْكُمْ
“O you who believe, do not consume one another’s wealth unjustly, but only through trade conducted by mutual consent among you.” [Sūrat al-Nisāʾ: 29]
The Prophet ﷺ said: “It is not lawful for a person to take the wealth of his brother without right, because Allah has made the wealth of a Muslim inviolable to another Muslim.” [Narrated by Aḥmad].
For this reason, the Sharīʿah requires mutual consent between the two parties to a sale. It is therefore not lawful to undervalue what belongs to people or exploit their need. Allah, Glorified, says:
وَلَا تَبْخَسُوا النَّاسَ أَشْيَاءَهُمْ
“Do not deprive people of what is rightfully theirs.” [Sūrat al-Aʿrāf: 85]
And the Prophet ﷺ said: “A sale is only valid through mutual consent.” [Narrated by Ibn Mājah].
The Sharīʿah has also prohibited cheating, deception, and concealing defects. Our Prophet ﷺ once passed by a pile of food and put his hand into it. His fingers felt moisture.
He said: “What is this, owner of the food?”
The man replied: “It was affected by rain, O Messenger of Allah.”
The Prophet ﷺ said: “Why did you not place it on top of the food so that people could see it? Whoever cheats is not from me.” [Narrated by Muslim].
There is an enormous difference between a Muslim who sincerely advises his Muslim brother, disclosing matters and concealing nothing, and another person who sells his religion for his worldly life, cheating and concealing defects.
The Prophet ﷺ said: “The Muslim is the brother of the Muslim, and it is not lawful for a Muslim who sells his brother something containing a defect except that he makes that defect clear to him.” [Narrated by Ibn Mājah].
Allah threatened those who give short measure and deprive people of what is due to them, saying:
وَيْلٌ لِلْمُطَفِّفِينَ * الَّذِينَ إِذَا اكْتَالُوا عَلَى النَّاسِ يَسْتَوْفُونَ * وَإِذَا كَالُوهُمْ أَوْ وَزَنُوهُمْ يُخْسِرُونَ * أَلَا يَظُنُّ أُولَئِكَ أَنَّهُمْ مَبْعُوثُونَ
“Woe to those who give less than what is due—those who, when they take a measure from people, take it in full, but when they measure or weigh for them, give them less. Do such people not think that they will be resurrected?” [Sūrat al-Muṭaffifīn: 1–4]
The Sharīʿah also prohibited sales involving gharar, meaning every sale whose outcome is unknown.
Knowledge is therefore a condition for the validity of a sale: knowledge of the product, the price, and the due date when one of the counter-values is deferred.
This is because uncertainty provides room for deception, and its outcome is disagreement and the unlawful consumption of people’s wealth.
The Sharīʿah therefore prohibited forms of sale united by uncertainty and gharar, among them the sale of fruit before its ripeness has become apparent.
Anas ibn Mālik, may Allah be pleased with him, said: “The Prophet ﷺ prohibited selling fruit until it begins to ripen.”
He was asked: “What does ‘begins to ripen’ mean?”
He replied: “Until it turns red.”
The Messenger of Allah ﷺ then said: “Tell me: if Allah were to prevent the fruit from developing, on what basis would one of you take the wealth of his brother?” [Narrated by al-Bukhārī and Muslim].
Abū Hurayrah, may Allah be pleased with him, said: “The Messenger of Allah ﷺ prohibited the sale by pebbles and the sale involving gharar.” Narrated by Muslim.
The sale by pebbles is, for example, when a merchant says: “Throw a pebble, and whatever merchandise it lands upon will be yours for such-and-such an amount of money.”
This principle applies to every sale involving uncertainty or gambling. The Sharīʿah prohibited these forms of sale because of the injustice, deception, and uncertainty they contain, as a mercy to people.
How different this is from a liberalism that sees nothing wrong with gharar so long as the two parties agree to it. Glory be to the All-Wise, who commands justice and is upon a straight path.
The Sharīʿah has also prohibited every form of sale that may provoke hostility between Muslims.
It is reported in Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī and Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim that the Prophet ﷺ prohibited najsh, which means that a person raises the price of an item without intending to purchase it.
It is also reported in both collections that he said: “None of you should make a sale over the sale of his brother.”
The Sharīʿah also prohibited selling something before taking ownership of it. Ḥakīm ibn Ḥizām, may Allah be pleased with him, asked the Messenger of Allah ﷺ: “A man comes to me asking to purchase something that I do not possess. Should I buy it for him from the market and then sell it to him?”
He replied: “Do not sell what you do not possess.” [Narrated by al-Tirmidhī].
The Sharīʿah likewise prohibited every form of sale that harms people’s provisions and livelihoods.
It prohibited hoarding, which is purchasing goods and withholding them from people when they need them so that their price will rise. The Prophet ﷺ said: “No one hoards except a sinner.” [Narrated by Muslim].
The Sharīʿah also prohibited merchants in towns from taking goods from people of the countryside in order to sell them on their behalf, because this leads to increased prices for people.
The Prophet ﷺ said: “A town-dweller must not sell on behalf of a desert-dweller. Leave the people so that Allah may provide for some of them through others.” [Narrated by Muslim].
May Allah bless me and you through the Magnificent Qurʾān and benefit me and you through its verses and wise reminder.
I seek Allah’s forgiveness for myself and for you, so seek His forgiveness. Indeed, He is the All-Forgiving, the Most Merciful.
The Second Sermon
All praise is due to Allah. May peace and blessings be upon the Messenger of Allah, his family, his Companions, and all those who follow him.
To proceed:
The tolerant Sharīʿah has legislated what makes people’s lives easier and removes difficulty and hardship from them.
For this reason, Allah legislated khiyār al-majlis in sales, meaning that each of the two parties to a sale has the right, for as long as they remain together in the session of sale, either to complete the transaction or to cancel it.
The Prophet ﷺ said: “The buyer and seller have the option as long as they have not separated. If they are truthful and make matters clear, their sale will be blessed for them. But if they conceal matters and lie, the blessing of their sale will be erased.” [Narrated by al-Bukhārī and Muslim].
Beyond this, the Sharīʿah also legislated khiyār al-sharṭ, meaning that either party to a sale may stipulate a period after the completion of the transaction during which he may consider whether to uphold the sale or cancel it.
The Prophet ﷺ said: “Muslims are bound by their conditions, except a condition that makes what is lawful unlawful, or makes what is unlawful lawful.” [Narrated by al-Tirmidhī].
The Sharīʿah also established the right of cancellation because of a defect. Thus, whoever purchases an item and subsequently discovers a defect in it has the right to return it if he wishes.
The Prophet ﷺ said: “Whoever purchases a muṣarrāh sheep”—meaning one whose milk has been deliberately withheld so that it appears to be a sheep that produces abundant milk—“has the choice concerning it for three days. If he wishes, he may keep it, and if he wishes, he may return it along with one ṣāʿ of dates.” [Narrated by Muslim].
Furthermore, although a sale becomes binding once the two parties separate, the Sharīʿah encourages each party to agree to cancel the sale if the other party wishes to withdraw from it, out of kindness toward him, for a person may act hastily and then regret it.
The Prophet ﷺ said: “Whoever agrees to cancel a sale for a Muslim, Allah will pardon his stumbling.” [Narrated by Abū Dāwūd].
O Allah, help us and do not help against us. Support us and do not support others against us. Plan in our favor and do not plan against us. Grant us victory over those who transgress against us.
O Allah, grant us security in our homelands, rectify our leaders and those entrusted with our affairs, and place authority over us in the hands of those who fear You, are mindful of You, and follow what pleases You.
O Allah, support our oppressed brothers and sisters in Gaza and everywhere else, and decree for them victory and relief soon.
Servants of Allah: Remember Allah abundantly and glorify Him morning and evening. And the conclusion of our supplication is: all praise belongs to Allah, Lord of all worlds.
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