(1) The chapter is summarized in the remaining manuscripts as follows: “Muslims have differed over some issues of this kind. Likewise, they have differed over commercial dealings—sales [ظ: mutual sale transactions; ب: items sold], leases, agencies, partnerships, gifts, charitable endowments, bequests, and similar dealings involving contracts and taking possession. Justice in such matters is the foundation of both worlds; this world and the Hereafter cannot be set right without it [lā (“not”): ز]. Some requirements of justice in these matters are evident and known to everyone through reason, such as the buyer’s obligation to pay the price and the seller’s obligation to deliver the item sold to the buyer; the prohibition against giving short measure or weight; the obligation of honesty and full disclosure; the prohibition against lying, betrayal, and fraud; and the principle that a loan should be repaid with gratitude. Other requirements are subtle and became known only through the revealed laws—or, for us Muslims, through our revealed law. The majority [ظ: the generality] of the commercial dealings prohibited by the Quran and Sunnah serve to establish justice and prohibit injustice in all its forms, minor and major. These include wrongfully consuming wealth and related practices such as *riba* (usury) and *maysir* (gambling), as well as the various forms of *riba* and *maysir* prohibited by the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him. Examples include sales involving *gharar* (excessive uncertainty); *habal al-habala* (a sale tied to the birth of an unborn animal’s offspring); the sale of birds in the air or fish in the water; a deferred sale with no specified due date; the sale of a *musarrāh* animal, whose milk has been retained in its udder; a sale involving *tadlīs* (concealment of a defect); *mulāmasa*, in which a sale is concluded by touching uninspected goods; *munābadha*, in which a sale is concluded by tossing uninspected goods; *muzābana*, the sale of fresh dates on the trees for measured dried dates; *muhāqala*, the sale of grain still in the ear for threshed grain; *najash* (shill bidding); and the sale of fruit before its ripeness becomes apparent. They also include the prohibited forms of defective partnership, such as *mukhābara*, in which the crop from a particular plot of land is assigned to one party. Some of these matters have been disputed among Muslims because they are obscure or ambiguous. One person may regard a particular contract and transfer of possession as valid and equitable, while another may see in it an injustice that renders it invalid. Allah Most High says: “Obey Allah, obey the Messenger, and those in authority among you. If you disagree over anything, refer it to Allah and the Messenger, if you truly believe in Allah and the Last Day. That is better and best in outcome” [al-Nisāʾ 4:59]. The fundamental principle is that people may not be prohibited from engaging in transactions they need unless the Quran and Sunnah establish their prohibition, just as no acts of worship by which they draw near to Allah may be prescribed for them unless the Quran and Sunnah establish their legitimacy. Religion is what Allah has prescribed, and the forbidden is what Allah has forbidden. This is unlike those whom Allah condemned because they independently declared forbidden what Allah had not forbidden, associated with Him that for which He had sent down no authority, and prescribed as religion what Allah had not authorized. O Allah, grant us success in treating as lawful what You have made lawful, as forbidden what You have forbidden, and as religion what You have prescribed.”