against sales involving undue uncertainty.

The second view is that selling such crops is permissible. This is held by some followers of Mālik and others, and is also one position within the school of Ahmad and elsewhere. This is the correct view for several reasons.

One is that this does not involve undue uncertainty. Rather, experts infer the condition of what is concealed underground from the visible leaves, just as they infer the hidden condition of real estate from its outward appearance, and the internal condition of animals from their outward appearance. Anyone who consults experts will receive this information from them, and their judgment is authoritative in such matters.

Second, the knowledge required of anything sold depends on its nature. Where part of an item is visible and part concealed, and exposing the concealed part would entail hardship and difficulty, inspecting its exterior is sufficient. With real estate, for example, seeing its foundations and the interiors of its walls is not a condition of sale. The same applies to animals and similar things.

Third, where there is a need to sell something, greater latitude is allowed than in other cases. The Lawgiver permits it because of that need, even though the specific grounds for prohibition remain. Thus, he permitted arāyā sales on the basis of an estimate, allowing estimation to take the place of measurement by volume when there is need. This was not deemed to fall within the prohibited practice of muzābana, for muzābana means selling property for property of the same kind without measuring or weighing, if it is