[The Book of ʿAriyyah Sales]

The jurists differ over the precise meaning of the ʿarīyah and over the Prophetic dispensation (rukhsah) granted with respect to it. Qāḍī Abū Muḥammad ʿAbd al-Wahhāb al-Mālikī relates that, in Mālik’s school, an ʿarīyah is as follows:

A man donates the fruit of a particular palm-tree—or of several palm-trees—from his orchard to a named individual. The donee may then purchase that fruit from the donor on the basis of an estimated measure (kharṣ) of dry dates, provided four conditions are met:

1. The fruit has reached the stage of ripening.
2. The quantity does not exceed five wasqs; if it does, the sale is invalid.
3. The buyer hands over the dates with which he purchases it at the time of harvesting; payment in cash renders the contract void.
4. The payment dates are of the same variety and type as the dates on the trees.

Accordingly, Mālik holds that the dispensation in an ʿarīyah concerns the donor alone. What has been allowed is simply the exemption of this case from the prohibition of muzābanah—the sale of fresh dates for dried dates—which the Sunnah forbids and which falls under both kinds of ribā, namely disparity (faḍl) and deferment (nasāʾ). The transaction involves exchanging a measured amount of dates for another quantity determined only by estimation; thus one genus is sold for its own kind with an excess, and the counter-value is also deferred. Such is Mālik’s view regarding what constitutes an ʿarīyah, the nature of the concession, and the party for whom it is meant.

Al-Shāfiʿī, on the other hand, maintains that the dispensation is not confined to the original donor. It applies to anyone who wishes to purchase up to that amount of dates—five wasqs or less—with dates of the same kind. Some reports state that the relaxation is limited to this quantity because people need fresh dates to eat even though they may possess neither fresh dates nor dried dates with which to buy them. Al-Shāfiʿī also stipulates that the payment dates must be delivered on the spot; if the parties separate before possession has taken place, the sale is void.

In Mālik’s view, the ʿarīyah sale is permissible with every commodity that can be dried and stored, whereas al-Shāfiʿī restricts it to dates and grapes alone. Both Imams agree on its permissibility when the quantity is less than five wasqs; their disagreement arises at the full measure of five wasqs. Two opinions are transmitted from each of them—one permitting and one forbidding—but the more widely held view in Mālik’s school is that it is permitted.