Hadith Four
On the authority of ʿAbd Allah ibn ʿUmar (may Allah be pleased with them both): the Messenger of Allah ﷺ forbade the sale known as habal al-habala. This was a transaction practiced in the pre-Islamic era: a man would sell a camel on the condition that payment be deferred until the she-camel gave birth, and then until the offspring that was in her womb gave birth in turn.
It is also said that a man would sell an old, mature she-camel (al-shārif) in exchange for the offspring of the foetus still in the womb of his own she-camel.
Lexical Notes
• habal al-habala: both ḥāʾs and both bāʾs are pronounced with fatḥah. Ḥabala is the plural of ḥābil, as ẓulma is the plural of ẓālim and kataba the plural of kātib. The word ḥabal is used almost exclusively for the pregnancy of women, whereas ḥaml applies to women and to female animals alike.
• al-jazūr: any camel, male or female; its plurals are juzur and jazāʾir.
• tuntaj: with ḍammah on the first tāʾ, sukūn on the nūn, fatḥah on the second tāʾ, followed by a jīm; it means “to give birth.” The verb is always passive and here is attached to the she-camel.
• al-Jāhiliyyah: the period and people before Islam, so called because ignorance (jahl) predominated among them.
• “then the one that is in her womb gives birth”: this refers to selling the offspring of the offspring—that is, the yet-unborn young of the unborn foetus. Practically, the buyer waits for the she-camel to give birth; if the newborn is female, he waits until she matures, mates her with a stud camel, and whatever she then carries in her womb becomes his.
Overall Meaning
The most common explanations of this sale are two: (1)
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It may be a conditional sale in which the price is deferred until the she-camel gives birth and then until the foetus she carries also gives birth. It was prohibited because the time of payment is unknown, and the length or shortness of the term clearly affects the price.
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Or it may be the sale of a nonexistent, unknown object—selling the offspring of the foetus still inside a pregnant, aged she-camel. It was forbidden because of the great harm and excessive uncertainty involved: no one knows whether the offspring will be female, whether it will be one or two, or whether it will be born alive or dead.