for two ṣāʿ measures of wheat, with possession taking place in the session of the contract, this is ribā al-faḍl. If I sell you one ṣāʿ measure of wheat for two ṣāʿ measures of wheat while delaying possession, then both ribā al-nasī’ah and ribā al-faḍl are present. And if I sell you one ṣāʿ measure of wheat for one ṣāʿ measure of wheat, with immediate delivery, then neither ribā al-faḍl nor ribā al-nasī’ah is involved.

Issue: What are the ribā-applicable commodities?

Answer: The Prophet ﷺ specified them by enumeration, saying: “Gold for gold, silver for silver, wheat for wheat, dates for dates, barley for barley, and salt for salt—like for like, equal for equal, hand to hand. But if these categories differ, then sell as you wish, provided that it is hand to hand.” (1)

These six commodities are unanimously agreed upon as stated in the hadith; that is, there is consensus that they are ribā-applicable forms of wealth and that ribā applies to them. The scholars differed concerning other commodities: are they to be included by analogy, or not?

As for the Ẓāhirīs, they held that nothing else is included and that ribā is confined to these six commodities, because the Ẓāhirīs reject analogy.

The scholars who reasoned on the basis of underlying meanings held that whatever resembles them is to be analogically included. Some of them—that is, some proponents of analogy—agreed with the Ẓāhirīs that ribā applies only to these six commodities, because the Messenger ﷺ restricted it to them. He was granted concise yet comprehensive speech (2), and speech was made concise for him.