and the other rationale is that he sold something he did not yet own, for the person entitled to the charity does not become its owner until he has actually taken possession of it with the donor’s permission, exactly like a gift.

9 – His words: “concerning the diver’s single dive.” The sale known as “the diver’s dive” combines two defects that invalidate the contract: first, ignorance of how much the diver will bring up in that particular dive which the purchaser hopes to acquire; and second, the seller’s lack of ownership of the retrieved items at the moment of contract. The gharar in such a sale is therefore severe.

10 – His words: “concerning the purchase of fish while still in the water.” The prohibition here rests on two grounds:
a) the inability to seize them and hand them over to the buyer;
b) ignorance of their particulars, for fish in deep water are unknown as to number, size, and species. They are therefore indeterminate, and selling them involves grave gharar.

11 – The jurists made an exception for fish kept in enclosed water—such as a pond from which they can easily be caught—and where the water is clear enough for one to know their number and sizes. In that case their sale is permissible, because they can be delivered and are known; hence, no gharar is involved.

12 – To proceed: the field of gharar is vast; its individual cases cannot be fully enumerated, nor its particulars exhaustively counted. Yet it is governed by Sharīʿah principles that identify its instances and mark out its contours. It is one of the perilous areas of commercial dealings. In the pre-Islamic era it appeared in the sale of the foetus, the sale of milk still in the udder, the stray camel, the pebble-sale, mulāmasa, munābadhah, and the like. New forms and varieties continue to emerge in every time and place according to people’s circumstances. In our own age extremely dangerous types have surfaced: they have bankrupted major business houses and destroyed the future and livelihood of individuals seduced by games of chance and gambling, now presented through modern tools and institutions—lottery corporations and games such as “Knock on the Door of Luck with Persistence” (1), “al-Watari,” and others that we hear about, which have enriched some without effort and impoverished others wrongfully. All of this is among