Points derived from the ḥadith

1. It is forbidden to sell food before taking possession of it.
2. The wording “until he has received it in full” indicates a ruling that applies to things that require exact delivery, namely what is sold by measure or weight.
3. The wording “until he has taken possession of it” conveys a general prohibition that covers bulk sales (jazāf) as well as those sold by measure or weight; the differing scholarly views on this will be discussed later, God willing.
4. Once possession and full delivery have taken place, resale is permissible.
5. Although the ḥadith mentions only the act of selling, many jurists—including the Shāfiʿīs and Ḥanbalīs—extend the prohibition to other contracts that either fall under the heading of sale or serve as a means to it, such as leasing, a gift with compensation, pledging, and assignment of debt.
6. Transactions other than sale and what resembles it remain permissible, because such contracts tolerate a small amount of uncertainty and are not intended for profit; hence the hidden motive to annul the original contract is absent.

Scholarly disagreement
The Ḥanafīs and Shāfiʿīs, followed by a strong report from Imām Aḥmad adopted by Ibn ʿAqīl and Shaykh Taqī al-Dīn (Ibn Taymiyyah), maintain that nothing may be sold before possession is taken. Shaykh Taqī al-Dīn said that this view accords with Aḥmad’s legal foundations. It was also preferred and authenticated by Ibn al-Qayyim, who argued at length that the relevant traditions do not conflict with those dealing specifically with food. The Ḥanafīs, however, exclude real estate, allowing its sale even before possession.

According to the well-known opinion of the Mālikīs, the prohibition is confined to foodstuffs sold by measure or weight.

The Ḥanbalīs, in the dominant view of their school, prohibit the sale of anything that is sold by measure, weight, count, description, or previous inspection, with no distinction between edibles and non-edibles. Some Mālikīs limit the prohibition to foodstuffs alone, whether sold in bulk, by measure, by weight, or otherwise.

Within this scope of sales all schools are in agreement, and only those strictly adhering to the well-known Ḥanbalī position differ by restricting the ban to items sold by measure, weight, count, or linear measurement (1), even though there is a second narration from Imām Aḥmad that forbids the sale of food in all its forms; this was adopted by al-Khiraqī as well as the authors of al-Mughnī and Sharḥ al-Muqniʿ.

(1) Measurement by length, i.e., goods sold according to cubit measure.