In al-Muntaqā, al-Majd cites the words of al-Tirmidhī: “This ḥadith is ḥasan ṣaḥīḥ.” al-Ḥākim also authenticated it, declaring, “A sound ḥadith according to the standards upheld by a group of ḥadith masters,” and al-Dhahabī agreed. It was likewise judged sound by Ibn Khuzaymah, ʿAbd al-Ḥaqq, al-Munḏirī, and Ibn al-Qayyim.

Vocabulary of the ḥadith:
– salaf (loan): pronounced with two fathas; in juristic usage it is the transfer of money to another who may benefit from it and later return its equivalent.
– ribḥ (profit): “He profited in his trade,” meaning he earned; the doer is rābiḥ. The noun ribḥ denotes the gain itself, and its plural is arbāḥ.
– mā lam yuḍman (property for which no liability has been assumed): passive construction, i.e. that which one does not yet own or possess.
– mā laysa ʿindak (what is not in your possession): anything not owned by the seller at the moment the contract is concluded when the goods are specific and identified.

Points derived from the ḥadith:
Ibn al-Qayyim states in Tahḏīb al-Sunan: “This ḥadith is a cornerstone of commercial law and an explicit proof for the prohibition of usurious stratagems.”

I say: the report contains four separate clauses, which we shall explain in the order in which they appear, God willing.

First clause: “It is not lawful to combine a loan with a sale.”
It has been interpreted in several ways, yet the soundest and closest to the truth is as follows:

Al-Wazīr (Ibn Hubayrah) said: “The jurists unanimously agree that it is impermissible to combine a sale with a loan—that is, for a man to sell a commodity on the condition that the buyer lend him money.”

Ibn al-Qayyim explains: “Such an arrangement is a doorway to usury: he lends him one thousand, then sells him a commodity worth eight hundred for another thousand, so he has given him one thousand in cash and a commodity worth eight hundred, yet taken back two thousand—precisely the essence of ribā. Without the sale he would not have issued the loan, and without the loan contract he would not have purchased the commodity.”

Second clause: “Nor two stipulations in one sale.”
This too has been interpreted in various ways; among them, according to the Ḥanbalīs, is that the purchaser stipulates upon the seller