5 – The option arising from inequitable pricing (khiyār al-ghabn) in a sale appears in three situations:

First: Intercepting incoming caravans (talqī al-rukbān). If someone meets sellers on the way and buys their goods, then once the seller reaches the market he may either let the sale stand at the price he accepted or annul it and take back his merchandise.

Second: A najsh bid—an artificial price increase made by someone who has no intention of buying. Such bidding is forbidden, and the buyer is given the choice to uphold or rescind the sale.

Third: The mustarsil, a trusting party who is ignorant of the item’s value and lacks bargaining skill, yielding to the seller in good faith. He likewise has the option to cancel.

In none of these three cases is any compensation (arsh) due to the aggrieved party if he chooses to keep the item; the Sacred Law grants him only two alternatives: return the commodity and recover the price, or retain it for the amount he paid.

6 – Shaykh Muḥammad ibn Ibrāhīm Āl al-Shaykh said: The prohibition that applies to ghabn is not confined to these three examples; it is found in many of the sales people conduct.

Shaykh Taqī al-Dīn said: Certain sales are prohibited because they involve one party wronging the other—such as the sale of a musarrāh (an animal whose milk has been withheld to make it appear more productive), sales of defective goods, najsh, and the like. The Lawgiver has not made these transactions binding like lawful sales; rather, He has left the matter to the wronged party: if he wishes, he may cancel the deal, and if he wishes, he may ratify it.