The Shaykh—may Allah have mercy on him—said:

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As for selling crops such as melons, cucumbers, long cucumbers and the like, some scholars within the schools of Abū Hanīfa, al-Shāfiʿī and Ahmad maintain that they may only be sold one picking at a time, classifying this as selling fruit before its ripeness becomes apparent. The correct view, however, is that they may be sold altogether with their roots. This is the position of some followers of al-Shāfiʿī and Ahmad, and is also the school of Mālik and others. There are, however, two grounds for this view.

The first is that their roots are comparable to the rootstocks of trees. Selling vegetables together with their roots before their ripeness becomes apparent is therefore like selling trees together with their fruit before its ripeness becomes apparent: the produce may permissibly be included as a subsidiary part of the sale. This is the reasoning adopted by a group of followers of al-Shāfiʿī and Ahmad, although it runs counter to his principles.

The second ground—which is the correct one—is that these sales do not fall within the prohibition of the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace. Rather, their sale is valid under contracts involving the picking