Chapter: The Sale Known as Muzābanah
Muzābanah is not permitted, for the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) expressly forbade it. Every prohibition he laid down in matters of sale is grounded in Allah’s words, "…unless it be a trade conducted by mutual consent among you" (al-Nisā’ 4:29). Consequently, anything the Prophet has prohibited remains unlawful even if the two contracting parties consent to it. The clause "unless it be a trade" applies only to transactions about which no ban has come—whether in the Book of Allah or on the tongue of His Messenger—such as usury and the like, even when undertaken with mutual agreement.
The term muzābanah means selling a definite, measured amount for an unknown amount of the same genus of edible or drinkable goods, and it likewise encompasses every exchange of something fresh for its dried form. Thus it is never permissible—whether the quantities are equal or unequal—to trade fresh dates for dried dates, to exchange wheat for dates or fresh dates, or to sell standing crops for wheat. The same holds for selling raisins for grapes, dried figs for fresh figs, green wheat (freekeh) for ordinary wheat, soaked wheat for dry wheat, or one batch of soaked wheat for another unless the moisture content is identical within the single lot. Nor may flour ever be sold for dough, and everything analogous to these examples follows the same rule.
According to a report transmitted by Abū Zayd, Ibn al-Qāsim allowed green apples to be exchanged for dried meat and fresh qaraḍ (acacia pods) for their dried counterparts, reasoning that disparity is permissible between items of the same genus in such instances. Other narrators, however, report that he regarded such transactions as disliked.
Anyone who has bought fresh dates with dried dates, or standing grain with wheat, must have the sale annulled if rescission is still possible. If, however, the goods have been lost while in the buyer’s possession after he has taken delivery, the seller is entitled to reclaim an equivalent measure of his dates from the owner of the fresh dates, and he likewise has the right to recover