to profit from what one has not borne liability for, nor to sell what one does not possess.” Al-Tirmidhī said: “A good and authentic hadith.”

This is akin to the stratagems of the Jews, who treated ribā as lawful only by resorting to stratagems, calling it al-mashkand. Allah cursed them for this.

Ibn Battah narrated, through a good chain of transmission, that Abū Hurayrah, may Allah be pleased with him, said that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said:

“Do not commit what the Jews committed, making lawful what Allah has forbidden through the slightest of stratagems.”

The two Sahīh collections also report that he said:

“May Allah curse the Jews! When animal fats were forbidden to them, they melted them down, sold them, and consumed the proceeds.”

The Sunan collections report that he, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said:

“Whoever enters a horse in a race with two others, when it may beat them, is not gambling. But whoever enters a horse in a race with two others, when there is no chance of it beating them, is gambling.”

As reported by the compilers of the Sunan collections through ‘Amr ibn Shu‘ayb, from his father, from his grandfather, he, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said:

“The buyer and seller retain the option to cancel the sale until they part, and neither may leave the other for fear that the other will ask him to rescind it.”

There is abundant evidence prohibiting stratagems in the Quran, the Sunnah, scholarly consensus, and sound reasoning. In our writings on this subject, we have mentioned some thirty proofs. We have also discussed the evidence invoked by those who permit such stratagems, such as Job’s oath, the hadith concerning the dates of Khaybar, and the equivocal expressions of