Book of Sales (1)
A sale is concluded by an offer and an acceptance; any lapse between them in the same sitting does no harm so long as the parties do not busy themselves with something that breaks off the negotiation. It may likewise be finalized through mere conduct (muʿāṭātah), as when one says, “Give me this for such-and-such,” and the other hands over what satisfies him.
Its conditions are:
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Mutual consent—apart from the case of someone who is lawfully compelled.
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The contracting party must be legally competent to dispose of property; thus a sale made by a minor or a prodigal without his guardian’s permission is invalid.
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The item sold must be of permissible benefit in itself and not merely in cases of necessity (2): such as a mule, a donkey, silkworms and their cocoons (3), an elephant, predatory beasts, and birds that can be used for hunting—excluding a dog, insects, carrion, manure (4), or impure fats and oils.
(1) Linguistically, bayʿ (sale) means taking one thing and giving another; it comes from the word bāʿ (arm-span) because each of the two parties stretches out his arm to the other. Technically, it is the permanent transfer of ownership achieved by exchanging a tangible valuable item or a lawful benefit for something of the same kind or for a debt obligation.
(2) Concerning the phrase “without need,” the author states in Kashshāf al-Qināʿ, 3/174: “This excludes things that have absolutely no benefit, such as insects; things whose benefit is prohibited, such as wine; things whose benefit is allowed only in cases of need, such as a dog; and things whose benefit is permitted solely in cases of necessity, such as carrion consumed during starvation or wine used to dislodge a morsel stuck in the throat.”
(3) Bizr al-qazz refers to the silkworm’s eggs. Calling them bizr (seeds) is metaphorical, likening them to vegetable seeds because they ‘sprout’ in a similar way. See al-Miṣbāḥ al-Munīr, s.v. bizr.
(4) Sirjīn—pronounced with either kasra or fatḥa on the sīn—means dung used as fertilizer. Sirjīn that is ritually impure is, for example, manure produced from the droppings of a domesticated donkey.