He—may Allah Most High have mercy on him—was also asked:

“May meat be divided without weighing it? And may figs, grapes, pomegranates, melons and cucumbers be divided by number?”

He replied:

“Fresh produce, such as fresh dates, grapes and the like, may be divided. The purpose of division is to achieve fairness. If the shares are not balanced by measuring by volume or weighing, estimation and valuation serve instead, including for commodities subject to the rules of usury.

“The jurists agree that fruit may be purchased with wheat or barley when the exchange is immediate. They disagree only over whether it may be sold on deferred terms. The majority permit this. This is the position of Abū Hanīfah and Mālik, the well-known position reported from Ahmad, and al-Shāfiʿī’s earlier position.

“This depends on the effective cause of the prohibition of usury: is it similarity and staple nourishment, and food being similar in edibility? Those who hold that it is similarity and staple nourishment, and those who hold that it is similarity combined with edibility, permit this. Those who hold that it is edibility alone do not permit it. And Allah knows best.”