in some cases prohibiting the sale causes owners greater loss, spoilage, or depreciation of their property than permitting it would, it is not permissible to avert a lesser harm by accepting a greater one. Rather, what is obligatory is what the Sharia prescribes: securing the greater of two benefits by forgoing the lesser, and averting the greater of two harms by accepting the lesser. This fatwa does not allow for a more extensive discussion.

Shaykh al-Islām—may Allah sanctify his soul—said:

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As for selling taro, carrots, turnips, and similar produce, a number of scholars permit it. This is Mālik’s position and one view within the school of Imam Ahmad, although the well-known position reported from him—like that of Abū Hanīfa and al-Shāfiʿī—is that it is not permissible.

The first view is correct. The principle on which scholars agree in this matter is that the item being sold must be known to the degree required in sales. The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, prohibited sales involving uncertainty, and in this matter one must refer to those with the relevant expertise.

Those with expertise say that they can assess this produce while it is still in the ground sufficiently for its sale no longer to involve such uncertainty. They ascertain this by examining what they pull up, just as one can assess