Some scholars have said that a salam contract involving a specific identified item is invalid, though it is valid as an ordinary sale. This returns to a general principle: if a contract is concluded in a form that does not conform to that particular contract, but is valid under another form, do we deem it valid or invalid? It is clear that if I sold you this specific item, it would be valid; but if I entered into a salam contract with you for it, it would not be valid. So do we say that, since salam cannot be realized with respect to this specific item, the contract becomes a sale? Or do we say that it is invalid, because salam has its own specific rulings and sale has its own specific rulings? This is the position of the madhhab. Ibn Rajab mentioned in al-Qawa'id that there are two views on this issue within the madhhab: one view holds that it is valid and is treated according to the contract under which it would be valid; the second holds that it is invalid, and this is the madhhab position.

However, this condition is open to question. Rather, it is valid to enter into a salam contract for a specific item, and that item may remain with the seller until its delivery date falls due. This is because the general meaning of Allah’s words, “Allah has permitted trade and forbidden usury” [al-Baqarah 2:275], and His words, “O you who believe, when you contract a debt for a specified term, write it down” [al-Baqarah 2:282], includes this case. The basic principle is validity unless evidence establishes invalidity.

Issue: If he says, “I have entered into a salam contract with you for the produce of this orchard,” it is likewise invalid according to the madhhab, because it is not owed in the seller’s liability. This orchard may bear fruit, or it may not. If the Lawgiver prohibited selling fruit before its soundness becomes apparent, then this is even more so. However, it is valid to enter into a salam contract for the orchards of a town generally, such as saying, “I have entered into a salam contract with you for the fruit of this town,” because the fruit of some towns is of good quality, and because a town’s fruit crop failing is