Some jurists thought salam lay outside the bounds of sound analogy and classified it under “selling what you do not own,” which the hadith of Ḥakīm ibn Ḥizām forbids; in fact, it bears no relation to that ruling.

The hadith of Ḥakīm concerns a man who sells a specific, identified item that is not yet in his possession—he intends to go and buy it from its owner and then hand it over to the purchaser. Such a sale is fraught with risk and involves contracting for something beyond one’s control. The hadith may also be applied to a salam contract when the seller believes he will not be able to procure the goods at maturity.

By contrast, a salam sale that satisfies all of its conditions is entirely outside the scope of that hadith, for what it deals with are liabilities, not particular objects. It therefore accords with analogy, and genuine need calls for it. The Prophet ﷺ stated that there are three transactions in which blessing is found, and he cited among them a sale on deferred terms—of which salam is one.

First Hadith
ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAbbās (may Allah be pleased with them both) said: When the Messenger of Allah ﷺ arrived in Madinah he found its people, being farmers, making advance payments for fruit crops for one, two, or three years. He said, “Whoever pays in advance for something must do so for a specified measure by the known measure, or a specified weight by the known weight, up to a specified term.”

Overall Meaning
After the Prophet ﷺ migrated to Madinah he found its inhabitants—people of farms and orchards—entering into salam: they would pay the price up-front and defer delivery of the fruit for one, two, or three years. He ﷺ approved this arrangement and did not treat it as the prohibited “sale of what the seller does not own,” which leads to excessive uncertainty, because salam is tied to liabilities rather than specific goods. He ﷺ nonetheless laid down rules that would keep them free of the disputes and quarrels that the lengthy term could invite. He said: Whoever engages in salam must fix the quantity by the recognized Islamic measure or weight and bind it to a known deadline; once both quantity and term are clearly defined, grounds for contention vanish and the buyer receives his due in peace.

Benefits Drawn from the Hadith

1. All the conditions required in an ordinary sale are required in salam, for it is one of its types. Thus the contracting party must have legal capacity, own the commodity or be authorized to sell it, and the contract must be concluded with mutual consent. The subject-matter of the salam must be something that may lawfully be sold; the seller must be able to deliver it at maturity; and both price and commodity must be known.
2. Salam adds further conditions designed to tighten its terms and remove doubt so that the transaction does not degenerate into strife and litigation. The most important of these additional conditions are drawn from the present hadith.