As for the sale known as ḥabl al-ḥabalah, two explanations have been offered. One is that it referred to transactions whose deadline was deferred until the she-camel gave birth to the fetus in her womb and that offspring, in turn, produced its own young; the element of gharar stemming from this indeterminate term is self-evident. A second view is that it simply denotes the sale of the fetus still in the camel’s womb, which falls under the same prohibition as selling the muḍāmīn and the malāqīḥ. (Muḍāmīn are what lies in the wombs of pregnant animals, while malāqīḥ are what is carried in the loins of the males.) All of these are pre-Islamic transactions on whose prohibition there is unanimous agreement, and they are forbidden for the reasons already set out.

With regard to the sale of fruit, it is authentically transmitted from the Prophet—peace and blessings be upon him—that he forbade selling it “until its soundness is evident and until it begins to ripen.” Several well-known legal questions arise from this, of which we shall present the most important. A sale of fruit can occur only in one of two initial states: either before the fruit has come into existence or after. Once it exists, it is either after the harvest (ṣirām) or before it. If before the harvest, it is either prior to the stage of ripening (zuhū) or after, and each of these possibilities may involve a sale that is (a) unconditional, (b) conditioned on the fruit remaining on the tree, or (c) conditioned on immediate picking.

1. First category: selling fruit before it comes into existence. All scholars unanimously forbid this, for it belongs to the prohibition on selling what has not yet been created and resembles the banned sales known as bayʿ al-sinīn and muʿāwamah. It is related from the Prophet—peace and blessings be upon him—that he forbade “the sale of years” and “the sale for successive years,” meaning the sale of a tree’s produce for several future seasons. The lone exception is what is reported from ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb and Ibn al-Zubayr, who deemed the sale of fruit for a number of years permissible.

2. Selling fruit after the harvest is, by unanimous agreement, permissible.

3. Selling fruit after it has come into existence but before the harvest. The majority of scholars permit this, subject to the details that follow, except for what is reported from Abū Salama ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān and ʿIkrimah, who allowed it only after the harvest.

   a. Selling it before ripening with the stipulation of immediate picking: there is no disagreement over its permissibility, save for a weak report from al-Thawrī and Ibn Abī Laylā disallowing it.

   b. Selling it before ripening with the stipulation that it remain on the tree: there is unanimous agreement that it is impermissible, apart from al-Lakhmī’s isolated opinion permitting it by extrapolation within the school.

   c. Selling it before ripening without any stipulation: here the jurists of the various regions have differed. The majority—Mālik, al-Shāfiʿī, Aḥmad, Isḥāq, al-Layth, al-Thawrī, and others—hold it impermissible. Abū Ḥanīfah, however, allows it, but obliges the buyer to pick the fruit immediately—not because the sale involves something unseen, but because immediate picking is, in his view, a necessary condition in the sale of fruit, as will be explained later.

The proof cited by the majority for prohibiting the unrestricted sale of fruit before ripening is the authentic ḥadīth transmitted from Ibn ʿUmar that “the Messenger of God—peace and blessings be upon him—forbade the sale of fruit …”