Book of Sales
Al-buyūʿ is the plural of bayʿ. Strictly speaking, bayʿ is a verbal noun and verbal nouns are not normally pluralized, but the plural is employed here to highlight the many forms a sale can take.
Linguistically, bayʿ means “to take something and give something in return.” The root was taken from the idea that each party stretches out his hand—either to strike the bargain or to take delivery of the price and the merchandise.
The word bayʿ is also used to mean “purchase”; it is therefore one of the contranyms, and so is shirāʾ (“purchase”), which can likewise denote “sale.” When we speak of “the seller,” however, the mind instinctively pictures the one who is handing over the commodity.
Legally, a sale is defined as the exchange of property for property, with the intention of transferring ownership, through whatever words or actions indicate that intent.
Its permissibility is established by the four foundational proofs:
- The Quran: “Allah has permitted trade” (2:275).
- The Sunnah: “The two parties to a sale retain the option (to cancel) so long as they have not separated,” and many other texts in both the Quran and the Sunnah attest to the same.
- The unanimous agreement of the Muslims.
- Analogical reasoning, for human need demands it: a person who possesses something other than what he needs can only obtain his requirement through this avenue.
As for the form by which the contract is concluded, the correct view—stated by Shaykh al-Islām Ibn Taymiyyah—is that it is valid with any word or deed that people regard as a sale, whether uttered instantly or after a pause. Allah did not intend to bind us to particular phrases; the aim is to convey the meaning, and whatever wording conveys it suffices.
People’s modes of speech and conventions vary with time and place; every era and locale has its own language and terminology, and the concern is with the meaning.
In these chapters on transactions, it will benefit us to grasp a noble principle that delineates the lawful dealings for us, and to understand the parameters that surround all prohibited dealings and to which every individual case can be referred. This principle