and the due date arrives, accept what you paid for if it is available; otherwise, accept a substitute of lesser value.’”

This same Ibn ʿAbbās, after reporting that the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) “forbade selling food before taking possession of it,” said: “I consider everything else to be like food.”

As for what Shaykh Abū Muhammad wrote in his al-Mughnī, when discussing al-Khiraqī’s statement:

“Selling the goods owed under a salam contract back to their seller or to anyone else before taking possession of them is invalid,”

Abū Muhammad said:

“No disagreement is known regarding the prohibition of selling goods owed under a salam contract before taking possession of them.”

He said this—may Allah have mercy on him—according to what he knew. Mālik’s position, however, permits selling them to someone other than the recipient of the advance payment, just as he permits selling other debts to someone other than the debtor. This is also one of the two positions reported from Ahmad. He explicitly affirmed in several places that a debt may be sold to someone other than the debtor, just as he explicitly affirmed that a salam debt may be sold to the debtor himself. Both positions are expressly stated in many of Ahmad’s answers, even though they do not appear in the books of many later scholars of his school. This position is more sound and follows by analogy from Ahmad’s principles.

This is because the goods owed under a salam contract have already been sold. Scholars have disagreed over whether an item sold may be resold before possession is taken but after taking possession has become possible, and over who bears the risk for it. Al-Shāfiʿī prohibits such sales without exception and says: “The risk remains with the seller.” This is also a weak report from Ahmad. Abū Hanīfah prohibits such sales except in the case of real estate, and says: “The risk remains with the seller.” These scholars explain the prohibition in terms of