The DEEN in BYTES Series | FIQH201 Fiqh Mu’amalat – part 2:

TRADE TRANSACTIONS

Trade is permissible according to the Quran, Sunnah, consensus of Muslim Scholars, and analogical deduction.

Among Quranic Dalil:

وَأَحَلَّ اللَّهُ الْبَيْعَ

“…and Allah has permitted trade…” (Al-Baqarah 2:257)

And,

لَيْسَ عَلَيْكُمْ جُنَاحٌ أَن تَبْتَغُوا فَضْلًا مِّن رَّبِّكُمْ

“There is no blame upon you for seeking bounty from your Lord (during Hajj)….” (Al-Baqarah 2:198)

Among Sunnah/Hadith dalil, Rasulullah said:

“The seller and the buyer have the right to keep or return goods as long as they have not parted. If both parties speak the truth and point out the defects and qualities (of the goods), then they will be blessed in their transaction. But if they tell lies or hide something, then the blessings of their transaction will be destroyed.” (Bukhari 2079, Muslim 3836)

Consensus of Scholars:

Muslims scholars uniformly agree on the permissibly of trade in general.

Analogical deduction:

Trade transactions are permissible because people’s needs are interdependent, and people grant nothing for nothing. A person does not give what he has, money or goods, in return for nothing, so wisdom necessitates the permissibility of trade in order to enable people to get their needs.

VALIDATIONS OF TRANSACTIONS

Trade transactions can be validated by means of a verbal formula, or an actual one.

The ‘verbal formula’ expresses the seller’s agreement on the sale, verbally, eg; “I sell it to you” and the buyer’s verbal acceptance when he say, eg; “And I buy it”.

The ‘actual formula’ is the act of exchange itself, when the seller is given the usual price and the buyer takes the commodity, without any verbal declaration.

Sometimes, trade transactions are validated by both verbal and actual formulas. 

Shaykhul-Islam Taqiyyud-Din (ra) said;

“There are some ways of exchange. First, when the seller only gives a verbal acceptance and the buyer takes the commodity (without declaring his acceptance). For example, a seller may say to the buyer, ‘Take this piece of cloth for a dinar,’ and the buyer takes it (without saying a word). The same ruling applies when the price is a given material; for example, the seller may say to the buyer, ‘Take this piece of cloth for yours’ and then the buyer takes it.

Second, when the buyer declares his acceptance and the seller only gives him the commodity whether the price is a given material or the sale is on credit (and the buyer is honestly guaranteed to pay).

Third, when neither the seller nor the buyer speaks (about the price) for there is a custom to that effect.”

(Majmu’ Al-Fatawa: 29/7-8)

NEXT – conditions to be fulfilled to make a trade transaction valid.

 (To be continued – main ref: Salih Al-Fawzan, A Summary of Islamic Jurisprudence II, 2006)