As for the ḥadith concerning the sale of fruit: ʿAlī ibn Aḥmad related it to us; ʿUmar ibn Muḥammad informed us; Abū Ghālib ibn al-Bannāʾ informed us; Abū Jaʿfar ibn al-Muslimah informed us; Abū Ṭāhir al-Mukhalliṣ informed us; ʿAbd Allāh ibn Abī Dāwūd narrated to us; Aḥmad narrated to us; ʿAnbasah narrated to us; Yūnus ibn Yazīd narrated to us; he said:
“I asked Abū al-Zinād about selling fruit before its soundness becomes evident and what is reported on that. He replied: ʿUrwah ibn al-Zubayr used to relate from Sahl ibn Abī Ḥathmah, from Zayd ibn Thābit, who said:
‘People used to trade in fruit, and when the harvest was cut (1) and the time for settlement arrived, the buyer would claim, “The crop has been struck by damān, by qushām, or by murāḍ”—afflictions (2) they invoked as excuses.
So the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, “If that is how things are, then do not sell fruit until its ripeness becomes apparent.” This was given as counsel (3) because of the frequency of their disputes.’”
Ibn Abī Dāwūd said, “I am uncertain; I do not know whether I heard this phrase from Aḥmad himself, though in my book it is recorded with his authorization.”
Abū Dāwūd also recorded it (4) through Aḥmad ibn Ṣāliḥ.
He is Ibn Saʿd al-Ansari al-Khatmi, a client of that tribe from Madinah. Al-Hafiz Ibn Hajar states in Taqrib al-Tahdhib: “Reliable, though he became confused at the end of his life.” Even so, Ibn Hibban reproduced this very hadith of his in his Sahih (no. 821), and the remainder of the transmitters are trustworthy.
The version agreed upon by al-Bukhari and Muslim, transmitted from Abu Hurayrah and attributed to the Prophet, reads: “The best charity is that which you give while you are healthy and tight-fisted, hoping for affluence and fearing poverty. Do not delay until your soul reaches your throat and you then say, ‘Give so-and-so this and so-and-so that,’ for it already belongs to so-and-so.”
(1) Meaning: they harvested their fruit. *Jidad* denotes the cutting of a date-palm’s crop and removing it from the tree.
(2) *Diman*—vowelled by Abu Ubayd with an open d and a light m, and by al-Khattabi with a damma on the first letter—refers, according to Qadi Iyad (both vocalisations are correct), to the spoilage and rotting of the fruit before it ripens, turning it black; it derives from *daman* (dung). *Qisham* (with damma on the qaf and a light sh) is when the dates fall apart before reaching the *balah* stage. *Murad* (with damma) is a disease that attacks the fruit and destroys it.
(3) The word may be pronounced with damma on the sh and sukun on the w, or with sukun on the sh and fatha on the w; both are acceptable. Al-Farraʾ explains that the original form was *mashawira*; it was lightened to *mashura* for ease of pronunciation.
(4) Hadith no. 3372, “Selling fruit before its soundness becomes evident,” in the Book of Sales (Kitab al-Buyuʿ); also cited by al-Bukhari.