2 – The default ruling is that purchasing fruit still hanging on the palms with (an exchange of) dates is forbidden, whether the amount is measured or taken in bulk. The two commodities belong to one and the same genus, and any surplus between them is unlawful. Since the quantity on the trees is unknown, we cannot ascertain equality; ignorance of equality is treated exactly like certainty of inequality with respect to the prohibition. This falls under the category of the forbidden sale of muzābanah, regarding which the Prophet’s prohibition has already been mentioned.

3 – The concession that mitigates the prohibition of muzābanah is the ʿarīyah sale. The Lawgiver allowed it because of need, subject to five conditions that the jurists have deduced from the textual evidence:
• The buyer’s need to eat fresh dates.
• He possesses no cash with which to buy a palm-tree or fresh dates, even if he is wealthy; poverty is therefore not a prerequisite according to the sounder of the two scholarly opinions.
• The ʿarīyah being sold must be less than five wasqs, one wasq being sixty prophetic sāʿs.
• The fresh dates are estimated by the amount they will equal once they have dried into dates; estimation here stands in place of measuring.
• Both parties must take possession in the same sitting: the palm-tree by simple relinquishment, and the dried dates by measuring. If any of these conditions is not met, the sale is invalid because it would lead to ribā (usury); the concession applies only in this narrowly defined situation of need.

4 – Necessity and need are assessed according to their exact measure; it is impermissible to exceed what is required to remove the need or necessity, for this ruling is an exception to the original norm of prohibition.

5 – The Sharia is characterized by leniency and ease; it accommodates lawful desires and appetites and imposes no undue hardship.

6 – Prohibitions are not all of the same degree; some are graver than others. Because ribā al-faḍl was prohibited as a preventive measure, certain instances of it were treated leniently when genuine need arose.