Chapter on Salam (forward sale)

A salam sale is valid for commodities sold by volume, by weight, and by number when the individual units do not vary, such as walnuts and eggs, as well as for sown crops. It is not valid for livestock, any of their limbs, hides sold by count, bundles of firewood, or sheaves of fresh fodder.

The contract is impermissible unless the commodity is available in the marketplace from the moment the agreement is concluded until the time of delivery. A salam is only sound when the delivery date is deferred, and that date must be precisely fixed. It may not be concluded according to the measure of one particular person, or his personal cubit, nor with reference to the grain of a specific village or the fruit of a particular palm-tree.

In Abū Ḥanīfa’s view, a salam contract is valid only when seven conditions—each of which must be stated in the contract—are met: a known genus, a known variety, a defined description, a fixed term, knowledge of the amount of the price whenever the contract’s validity hinges on its quantity (as with items sold by measure, weight, or number), and designation of the place where delivery will be taken if the goods require carriage and expense.

Abū Yūsuf and Muḥammad maintain that when the price is specified there is no need to mention its amount separately, nor to name a delivery place; the seller may deliver at the location where the contract is concluded.

A salam sale is not valid unless the buyer has paid the full price before the parties separate. Neither the price nor the commodity may be disposed of before possession is taken, and partnership or assignment in the commodity is impermissible until it has been received.