Accordingly, it is not permissible to give the subject of the salam contract as a gift, whether to the person who owes it or to someone else. As for giving it as a gift to the person who owes it, they say that this falls under the statement: “He should not exchange it for something else” (1). Moreover, a gift entails giving a person a specific item that one owns.
The response is that, as for the hadith, it says, “He should not exchange it for something else,” whereas in this case he has not exchanged it for something else. As for their reasoning, we say: if he gives the subject of the salam contract as a gift to the person who owes it and says, “I give you as a gift the wheat you owe me,” then this gift is equivalent to releasing him from the debt. They themselves have stated in the chapter on gifts that if someone releases his debtor, whether using the wording of release, gift, waiver, or anything similar, then the debtor is discharged. So how can you permit releasing a debt by using the wording of a gift in other debts, yet not permit it in a salam debt?! Is not a salam debt among debts?! There is no doubt, then, that if he gives the subject of the salam contract as a gift to the salam seller, it is permissible, for at most he has released him from it; and releasing a debt is an act of goodness and kindness, so how can we prohibit it?!
As for giving it as a gift to someone else, such as when a poor man comes to the purchaser in a salam contract and says, “I need provisions,” and he replies, “I have a salam claim against so-and-so for one hundred sāʿs of wheat; I give it to you as a gift.” According to the author’s view, this is invalid, because he has not taken possession of the salam goods, and they have not become his property such that he may give them away. But the correct view is that it is valid, because this transaction involves no harm whatsoever. It is as though he has assigned him to that man to collect the entitlement from him and then take ownership of it for himself. What legal impediment could there be in this?! Nor is there any uncertainty. If it were a sale, then yes: if he sold the subject of the salam contract to someone other than the salam seller, he might be unable to take possession of it, and uncertainty could arise. But in the case of a gift, the recipient either gains or suffers no loss. Thus, the correct view is that it is permissible to give the subject of a salam contract as a gift, whether it is given to the salam seller or to someone else.