Imam Ibn al-Qayyim (may Allah have mercy on him) said: “In the Lawgiver’s establishment of the session option (khiyār al-majlis) in sales there lies a wisdom and a benefit for the two contracting parties. It secures the complete satisfaction that Allah made a condition when He said, ‘…unless it be a trade conducted by mutual consent among you’ (Qur’an 4:29). A contract is often concluded suddenly, without deliberation or any real appraisal of the price. Therefore, the beautiful features of this perfect Shariah required that a protected interval be placed around the contract in which the two parties could reflect, review the matter, and correct any oversight. Each party thus retains the option granted by this noble hadith so long as their bodies have not yet left the place where the sale was made.

If both of them waive the option—by agreeing at the time of sale that neither shall have it—or if one of them alone waives it, the option is cancelled and the sale becomes binding upon both of them, or upon the one who waived it, from the very moment the contract is concluded. The option is a personal right; it lapses when its holder relinquishes it. The Prophet ﷺ said, ‘…so long as they have not yet parted, or one of them has granted the other the choice.’ It is unlawful for either party to walk away from his brother with the intention of causing the option to lapse, as is reported in the hadith of ʿAmr ibn Shuʿayb: ‘It is not permissible for him to leave him out of fear that he might retract.’

Second: The option by stipulation (khiyār al-sharṭ). This occurs when the two parties, either within the very wording of the contract or—while still within the period of the session option—agree upon a specified time during which the option may be exercised, in light of the Prophet’s ﷺ statement, ‘The Muslims are bound by their conditions,’ and the general command of Allah, ‘O you who believe, fulfil all contracts’ (Qur’an 5:1).