that it turns red or yellow, or some of it is eaten. Exchanging standing grain for harvested grain means selling a field’s crop for a specified measure of grain. Exchanging dates on the palms for dried dates means selling the dates on the palms for a number of wasqs (standard measures) of dried dates. Sharecropping means an arrangement for a third or a quarter of the yield, or a similar share. Zayd said: I asked ʿAtāʾ, ‘Did you hear Jābir relate this from the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace?’ He replied, ‘Yes.’”

Both Sahīhs also relate from Abū al-Bakhtarī, who said:

“I asked Ibn ʿAbbās about selling dates on the palms. He replied, ‘The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, prohibited selling dates on the palms until one eats some of their fruit—or some of it is eaten—and until it is weighed.’ I asked, ‘What does “weighed” mean?’ A man beside him replied, ‘Until it is secured.’”

In Sahīh Muslim, Abū Hurayra, may Allah be pleased with him, reported that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said:

“Do not sell fruit to one another before its soundness becomes apparent, and do not exchange dates for dates.”

Ibn al-Mundhir said: “The scholars unanimously agree that selling the fruit of date palms for future years is impermissible.”

They argue that when someone leases out the land and trees together, he has thereby sold the fruit before it comes into existence, selling its yield for one or two years. This is precisely what the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, prohibited. Those who prohibit this without qualification consistently apply the general wording and the analogy.

Those who permit it when the fruit constitutes only a small part of the transaction argue that minor uncertainty is tolerable in contracts. This is comparable to purchasing date palms bearing fruit that has not yet been pollinated, or that has been pollinated but whose soundness has not yet become apparent. Such a purchase is permissible, even though the fruit may not be sold under a separate contract. This reasoning is particularly sound according to the legal principles of al-Shāfiʿī, Ahmad, and other jurists