and the matter can end only in one of two ways: either the contract is allowed to stand—and that is riba (usury)—or the person must take the lesser of the two amounts.

– Riba: its full definition will be discussed in its own chapter, God willing.

• Lessons drawn from the hadith:
  • The Prophet’s prohibition of “two sales in one sale,” whose legal implication is that such a transaction is forbidden and the contract is invalid.

• Scholarly disagreement:
  The jurists have differed over the meaning of “two sales in one sale.”

  1. The Hanbalis explain it as one of the two contracting parties stipulating an additional contract—such as a loan, lease, partnership, and the like—along with the original sale. An example would be the seller saying to the buyer, “I sold you this item for such-and-such on condition that you rent me your house for such-and-such.” In their view, this stipulation nullifies the contract from the outset. The ruling is invalidity, because once the condition is corrupt, the corresponding portion of the price must be returned; that portion is unknown, which renders the entire price unknown.

  2. Others interpret it as the seller’s saying, “I sold you this commodity for two thousand on deferred payment, or for one thousand in cash—whichever price you choose.”

  As for Ibn al-Qayyim, he states that “two sales in one sale” means selling a commodity for one hundred on credit and then buying it back for eighty in cash. Thus two sales have been combined in a single deal: if the higher price is taken, riba has been taken; if the lower, only the smaller amount has been taken. According to him, this is one of the greatest gateways to usury.

  Ibn al-Qayyim maintains that this is the explanation that corresponds exactly to the hadith. When a person’s objective is to obtain ready cash in exchange for deferred cash, he deserves only his principal—namely, the lower of the two prices. If he takes that, he has taken the lesser amount; if he takes the greater, he has taken riba. Therefore he has no escape from choosing between the lesser price or usury, and the hadith cannot bear any other meaning. Simply offering the choice between paying one hundred on credit or eighty in cash involves neither riba nor uncertainty; it is merely a selection between two known prices.

Shaykh ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Saʿdī said: the type of transaction included in the prohibition of “two sales in