Selling with uncertainty (gharar) and selling a runaway slave

Sayyiduna Abu Sa'id (may Allah be pleased with him) said: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) forbade the buying and selling of the young in the bellies of animals until they are born; likewise he forbade the buying and selling of milk in the udders until it is drawn and measured; and the sale of a runaway slave; and the sale of the spoils of war until they are divided; and buying things received as zakah until they are taken into possession. He also forbade making an agreement with a diver in the sea that he will dive and give the buyer whatever he finds.

Sayyiduna Ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both) said: It is not permissible to sell wool while it is on the animal's body, or milk while it is in the udders.

Ikrimah said: Do not buy, as an uncertain purchase (gharar), a stray riding animal or a runaway slave until they are found, for what do you know? You may not find them, and your wealth will be lost.

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) forbade the sale involving uncertainty (gharar).

Al-Hasan said: A man bought a runaway slave from another man, and Sinan bin Salamah cancelled the sale.

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Ibn Umar (may Allah be pleased with them both) that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) forbade the sale involving uncertainty (gharar).

It is narrated from al-Sha'bi that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) forbade the sale involving uncertainty (gharar).

Ibrahim said: The predecessors used to consider the sale involving uncertainty (gharar) disliked.

Ibn Sirin and al-Sha'bi said: Its sale is not valid until the seller and the buyer have equal knowledge of the item sold.

Al-Sha'bi said: A man came to Shurayh and said to him: A slave of mine has run away, and a man is bargaining with me over him. Shall I sell him? He said: Yes, that is fine; but when you see him you have the choice: if you wish, you may declare the sale valid, and if you wish, you may not declare it valid.

Al-Sha'bi said: When he has learned everything about the thing that you know, the sale is valid and he will have no choice.

Al-Sha'bi said: If a person has bought a runaway slave, whether he finds him or not, this sale is disliked, and it is gharar (uncertainty).

Ibn Sirin said: I see no harm in the sale involving uncertainty (gharar).

Nafi' said: Sayyiduna Ibn Umar (may Allah be pleased with them both) bought a stray camel.

Tawus said: If a man has bought an absent riding animal which he had seen before, and has bought it on the basis that if it is sound it is his, there is no harm in this sale.

Sa'id bin al-Musayyib said: The people said: If only we could see a sale between Sayyiduna Abd al-Rahman bin Awf and Sayyiduna Uthman bin Affan (may Allah be pleased with them both), so that we might know which of the two strives the harder in trade. Then Sayyiduna Abd al-Rahman bin Awf (may Allah be pleased with him) bought some horses from Sayyiduna Uthman (may Allah be pleased with him) for forty thousand, and stipulated that when the transaction was completed, all the horses should be alive, gathered with the shepherd and not strayed. When the sale had been settled and Sayyiduna Abd al-Rahman (may Allah be pleased with him) had gone a little way on, he said to himself: What have you done? He then went back to Sayyiduna Uthman (may Allah be pleased with him) and said to him: I will give you six thousand more on condition that, if the messenger reaches them while they are alive, they are my liability. When the messenger reached them, they had died; and so Sayyiduna Abd al-Rahman (may Allah be pleased with him) came out of the liability by the second condition.

Shurayh considered the sale involving uncertainty (gharar) valid if the knowledge of both parties was equal.

Mujahid said: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) forbade the sale involving uncertainty (gharar).

Al-Hasan said: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) forbade the sale involving uncertainty (gharar).