—payable only when the offspring of that offspring is actually born.
-
This particular form of sale was singled out for mention because it was a practice of the pre-Islamic era: people would make the maturity of the debt depend on that very contingency.
-
Its prohibition rests on the fact that it belongs to sales involving gharar (risk) owing to the unknown term. Allah, Most High, says, “O you who believe! When you contract a debt for a stated term, put it in writing” (Qur’an 2:282). The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, “Whoever pays in advance for something must do so for a specified measure and a specified term” (reported by al-Bukhārī). Uncertainty about the term inevitably leads to quarrelling and dispute, whereas Islam has come with love, affection, and concord.
-
Some scholars explained ḥabl al-ḥabala as the sale of the offspring of the offspring. The ground for its prohibition is even stronger in this case: the very object of sale is unknown—its amount and its nature are indeterminate—and the term is likewise uncertain, for it is tied to an event that may take long or short, or may never occur at all.
-
On both interpretations the prohibition denotes unlawfulness and renders the contract void.