Chapter: Selling Fruits Before Their Ripeness Becomes Apparent—or After It

It is impermissible to sell fruit that is still hanging on date-palms or other trees under a contract that leaves it in place until cutting or picking, unless its ripeness has already become evident. One may, however, purchase it on the condition that it be cut and removed immediately, even before any sign of ripeness appears.

For dates, ripeness is deemed to have begun when the fruit turns yellow or red. With figs, grapes, olives, peaches, apples, and similar produce, the sale becomes lawful once the earliest part of the crop tastes good, some of it shows the color that marks maturity, and that ripening is proceeding successively.

The first early cluster—al-bākūr—is not, by itself, considered the initial stage of ripeness for pressing into juice, nor for anything comparable. Nevertheless, this early yield may be sold on its own once the juice has begun to flow in the grapes, or once they have taken on color if they are not white. When their blackness appears, ripeness is regarded as established, provided the fruit can be eaten continuously.

It is also permissible to sell an entire orchard when some of its produce has ripened, so long as the ripening is advancing in close and regular succession. There is no objection to selling the orchard’s fruit even though none of it has yet changed color, if the neighboring orchards have already done so and the figs within it are now safe from harm.