—all of it, and any other merchandise whatsoever—provided he receives it on the spot and does not defer anything.

Should a man purchase a specified amount of food, measured out before him, then discover a defect in a small portion of it, he may return that defective part with its corresponding share of the price, keep the bulk at its proper valuation, and, as for the price of what he returned, be granted a period of grace. He may then take at once whatever kinds of food and condiments he wishes, without delaying any part of that.

If the seller of food assigns a man to his purchaser so that the assignee may collect from the purchaser the price owed to the seller, the assignee is not permitted to accept from that purchaser anything edible or drinkable; in this matter he is subject to the same ruling as the seller of food. It makes no difference whether the assignment concerns a debt, a gift, or charity.

Receiving food in payment for food, according to Mālik, falls under the ruling of selling food on credit. He also holds that blocking the means that lead to wrongdoing is obligatory, and this chapter is one example of that principle. Others differ with him, but one should not invalidate an outwardly sound and lawful transaction on the basis of mere conjecture, for legal rulings in the Sharīʿah rest on actual realities, not on suppositions. Allah is the One who grants success in attaining what is right.