777 – Suhayb reported that the Prophet ﷺ said: “Three things bring about blessing: selling on deferred payment, muqārada (profit-sharing partnership), and mixing wheat with barley for one’s household, not for trading.” It was narrated by Ibn Mājah with a weak chain of transmission (1).
Hadith grading
The hadith is weak.
The author states: Ibn Mājah transmitted it with a weak isnād, for in its chain appear Ṣāliḥ ibn Ṣuhayb, ʿAbd al-Raḥīm ibn Dāʾūd, and Naḍr ibn Qāsim, all of whom, according to al-Būṣīrī, al-ʿUqaylī, and al-Sindī, are unknown narrators.
Ibn Ḥazm remarked: “Every chapter of jurisprudence has a basis in the Qur’an or the Sunnah, except for qarāḍ; we have found no textual proof for it in either of the two sources.”
What is certain, however, is that qarāḍ was practiced in the Prophet’s time, and he approved it. This constitutes the basis on which the unanimous agreement of the Muslim jurists regarding its permissibility rests.
Vocabulary
- Muqārada: from the verb qarada (“to cut off a part”). It refers to allotting a portion of one’s capital to another so that he may invest it; the profit is then divided between them according to the terms they stipulate.
Legal points derived from the hadith
- The hadith indicates that blessing is found in three matters:
– Selling on deferred payment, whether by salam (payment in advance for a future delivery) or by allowing the buyer to pay the price in installments. The blessing lies in facilitating the transaction and helping the purchaser to pay the price