Chapter on Ribā (Usury)

1. When food is exchanged for food: if the two commodities belong to the same genus, three conditions are required—spot settlement, exact equivalence, and hand-to-hand delivery before the parties separate. If they are of two different genera, such as wheat for barley, disparity in quantity is permissible, but spot settlement and hand-to-hand delivery remain obligatory.

2. "Food" (ṭaʿām) refers to whatever is intended for eating, whether as a staple, a fruit enjoyed for pleasure, or a medicinal remedy.

3. The flours produced from crops of different genera, their de-hulled kernels, and the oils extracted from them are each treated as separate genera; the same ruling applies—according to the more reliable view—to the various kinds of meat and milk.

4. Equivalence is assessed, for what is sold by measure, by volume, and for what is sold by weight, by weight. The benchmark is the prevailing practice of the people of the Ḥijāz in the time of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. Where that practice is unknown, the custom of the locality in which the sale takes place is followed. Some scholars, however, require volume in every case; others require weight; others allow a choice; while another opinion holds that whatever method is original for the commodity is the one adopted.

5. Currency for currency is governed by the same rules as food for food. If someone sells a heap by mere approximation without measurement, the contract is void—even if the two heaps later prove to be exactly equal.

6. Equivalence is judged when the goods are dry. Perfection may also be considered from the outset: fresh dates may not be sold for fresh dates, nor for dried dates; grapes may not be sold for grapes, nor for raisins. Any produce that never attains a dry state—such as cucumbers or grapes that cannot be turned into raisins—may not be bartered at all. Another opinion allows the barter if they are equal while still fresh.

7. Equivalence of flour, roasted flour, or bread is not sufficient; equality must be in the grain itself. With oil-seeds such as sesame, equality is considered either in the seed or in the expressed oil. For grapes, equality must be in raisins or in grape vinegar, and—on the sounder opinion—the same applies to grape juice. For milk, equivalence is accepted in milk, in clarified butter, or in pure buttermilk; but not in its other derivatives such as cheese or dried curd.

8. Equality is likewise inadequate in any commodity altered by fire, such as by boiling or frying, whereas a mere clarifying process that only separates components—like straining honey or clarifying butter—does no harm.

9. If a single contract combines ribā-liable items on both sides and the genera differ—such as one mudd of ʿAjwah dates and one dirham in exchange for one mudd and one dirham, or one mudd and one dirham for two mudds or two dirhams—or if the types differ, for example whole and broken coins whether on both sides or on one side, the contract is invalid.

10. It is forbidden to sell meat for a live animal of the same species, and—according to the preponderant view—also forbidden to sell it for a live animal of another species, whether the latter is normally eaten or not.