Chapter: Taking Possession of Food in Settlement of the Price of Food

Anything that you are not permitted to sell may not be used when you collect your payment, nor may you accept it as a substitute for what is owed to you. Whoever sells food on credit is not allowed to receive, in discharge of the price, any edible or drinkable food—whether it is a staple or otherwise, whether the amount is small or great, before the term falls due, after it, or at the very time of maturity, whether it is of the same kind he sold or of a different kind—except in one case: he may take from the very species and variety he originally sold an item identical to it in colour, quality, description, and in the same measure or weight, with no increase or decrease whatsoever.

It is also impermissible for him to take part of the price in cash and part in food; this, according to Mālik, is the position held by most scholars.

If someone buys a specific quantity of food—by an agreed measure, weight, or number—and pays the price in cash, but the food is later found to be deficient relative to what had been stipulated, there is no harm in his taking, for the remainder of his money, whatever kinds of food and condiments he wishes.