Chapter: The Legal Concession Concerning ʿArāyā

Introduction

Linguistically, a rukhsah denotes ease and facilitation. Technically, it is a legal ruling that departs from a general scriptural proof because a stronger, overriding consideration is present.

The term ʿarāyā—spelled ʿayn, rāʾ, alif, yāʾ, alif—illustrates an orthographic rule in Arabic: when a word has more than three letters, its final alif maqṣūrah is normally written with yāʾ, unless that would produce two consecutive yāʾs, in which case it is written with alif, as in istaḥyā, zawāyā, and ʿarāyā. The singular is ʿariyyah. It is named so because this sale is “stripped” (ʿarīt) of the general prohibition, meaning it is exempted from it.

The practical form of an ʿariyyah sale is as follows: fresh dates still on the palm are sold for the exact quantity of dried dates they are expected to yield. The exchange must involve an equal measure of dried dates, be for less than five wasqs, and the two parties must take possession during the same contract session—the dates on the tree by simply leaving them for the buyer, and the payment of dried dates by measuring them out immediately. A fuller explanation will follow, God willing.