with regard to the final outcome; no one can tell whether the profit (ghunm) or the liability (ghurm) will fall to either of the two parties. Islam came to establish justice between them, so that neither side proceeds unless he has full knowledge and clear insight into the contract itself and into the consequences to which it may lead.

3 – al-muḥāqala: this is the sale of grain that has hardened while still in its ears for grain of the same kind. The arrangement combines two forbidden elements: obscurity and ribā (usury). The obscurity lies in the fact that grain still in the ear is unknown in both quantity and quality, fine or inferior. As for ribā, it results from exchanging grain for grain of the same genus without meeting the Sharīʿah requirement of strict equivalence; this inevitably leads to uncertainty. The juristic maxim is: “Ignorance about equality is treated in law the same as knowledge of disparity.”

– al-mukhābara: this is the pre-Islamic and therefore forbidden form of mukhābara. In it the land is leased for cultivation on a pagan basis: the owner stipulates that a specific side of the field will be his share of the produce, while the cultivator takes the other side. Such a contract is uncertain, for the final outcome is unknown—one side may flourish while the other is destroyed—so it was prohibited because of its ambiguity and risk. The valid form of mukhābara is for either the landowner or the cultivator to receive a known, undivided percentage of the total crop, so that both share in profit and loss alike and are free of uncertainty.

5 – al-muzābana: Imām Mālik defined it as the sale of any measured commodity whose exact measure or weight is unknown for another of the same kind. An example is selling dates still on the palms for picked dates. This transaction combines two prohibited matters:

1. the obscurity and hazardous risk for which there is no genuine need; and
2. ribā, for the dates on the palms are indeterminate, and selling them for dates of the same genus fails to establish equivalence, leading to ribā al-faḍl. As the maxim states, “Ignorance regarding equality is treated as knowledge of disparity.”

6 – al-muzābana: a limited concession has been granted for those instances of this sale that necessity requires, provided certain conditions are met that reduce the quantity being transacted.