Mukhtasar Muslim

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Ata bin Abi Rabah that Sayyiduna Abu Saeed Khudri (may Allah be pleased with him) met Sayyiduna Ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both) and asked him, "What you say about the transaction of sarf (exchange of gold and silver), did you hear it from the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) or did you find it in the Noble Word of Allah?" Sayyiduna Ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both) said, "By no means, I do not say anything like that. You know the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) better than I do, and I do not know (this ruling) in the Book of Allah either. But Sayyiduna Usama bin Zaid (may Allah be pleased with him) narrated this hadith to me that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: Beware! There is usury in credit." (However, according to some scholars, the hadith of Usama bin Zaid is abrogated in its ruling, and some have said that it will be interpreted, and that is, it applies to those properties which are not usurious, etc., or this hadith is ambiguous.)

Abu Nadrah says: I asked Sayyiduna Ibn Umar and Sayyiduna Ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both) about (the transaction of) sarf (exchange of gold, silver, or currency), and they saw no harm in it (even if there is an increase or decrease, provided it is hand to hand). Then I was sitting with Sayyiduna Abu Sa'id Khudri (may Allah be pleased with him), so I asked him about (the transaction of) sarf. He said: "Whatever is in excess is usury." I denied this because of what Sayyiduna Ibn Umar and Sayyiduna Ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both) had said, so he said: "I will not narrate to you except what I heard from the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him)." A man who had dates came to the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) with a sa' of good quality dates, and the dates of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) were of the same kind. The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) asked: "Where did you get these dates from?" He replied: "I took two sa' of dates and bought one sa' of these dates in exchange, because its price in the market is such and its price is such." The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Woe to you, you have engaged in usury. When you want to do so, sell your dates for something else, then buy whatever dates you want with that thing." Sayyiduna Abu Sa'id (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "So when dates are exchanged for dates and there is usury in it, then when silver is exchanged for silver (more or less), there will definitely be usury in it (even if it is hand to hand)." Abu Nadrah said: "After that, I went to Sayyiduna Ibn Umar (may Allah be pleased with them both) again, and he also forbade it (perhaps he had heard the hadith of Sayyiduna Abu Sa'id, may Allah be pleased with him). And I did not go to Sayyiduna Ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both), but Abu al-Sahba narrated to me that he asked Sayyiduna Ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both) about it in Makkah, and he considered it disliked."