Muwatta Malik (Yahya)

Imam Malik, may Allah have mercy on him, said: "According to us, this is the ruling."

Imam Malik, may Allah have mercy on him, said: In our view, this ruling is agreed upon that wheat should not be sold for wheat, and dates for dates, and wheat for dates, and dates for grapes, except hand to hand, with no delay on either side. If there is a delay, it becomes unlawful. Similarly, for all the things that are eaten with bread, if one is exchanged for another, it should be taken hand to hand.

Imam Malik, may Allah have mercy on him, said that for all food items or those eaten with bread, when the type is the same, any excess or deficiency is not permissible. For example, one mudd of wheat should not be sold for two mudds of wheat, nor one mudd of dates for two mudds of dates, nor one mudd of grapes for two mudds of grapes. Similarly, for other food items or those eaten with bread that are similar to these, when their type is the same, any excess or deficiency is not permissible, even if it is hand to hand. For example, if someone sells silver for silver or gold for gold, any excess or deficiency is not permissible. Rather, it is necessary for all these things that they be equal and exchanged hand to hand.

Imam Malik, may Allah have mercy on him, said that when the types differ, then an increase or decrease is permissible, but it must be hand to hand, such as exchanging one sa’ of dates for two sa’ of wheat, or one sa’ of dates for two sa’ of grapes, or one sa’ of wheat for two sa’ of ghee—there is no harm in this as long as it is hand to hand and not deferred. If it is deferred, then it is not permissible.
Imam Malik, may Allah have mercy on him, said it is not permissible to give one sack of wheat and take another sack of wheat in exchange for it. It is permissible to give one sack of wheat and take a sack of dates in exchange for it, hand to hand, because it is permissible to sell a heap of dates for wheat by estimation.

Imam Malik, may Allah have mercy on him, said: As for all things that are eaten or used as condiments with bread, when their types are different, it is permissible to sell them in heaps against each other as long as it is hand to hand. If there is a delay, it is not permissible. For example, if someone sells a heap of these things in exchange for gold or silver, it is permissible.

Imam Malik, may Allah have mercy on him, said that if a person measures out wheat and makes a heap, and then sells it to someone while concealing the weight, this is not permissible. If the buyer wishes to return the wheat to the seller because the seller deliberately concealed the weight and deceived him, then he may do so. Similarly, if the seller sells something while concealing its weight, the buyer has the option to return it. The people of knowledge have always prohibited such a sale.

Imam Malik, may Allah have mercy on him, said: Exchanging one loaf of bread for two loaves, or exchanging a large loaf for a small loaf, is not good. However, if he considers the bread equal to the other bread, then the exchange is permissible even if he does not weigh it.

Imam Malik, may Allah have mercy on him, said that it is not permissible to take one mudd of butter and one mudd of milk in exchange for two mudds of butter, because he has equated the excellence of his butter by mixing it with milk. If he had sold the milk separately, he would never have received one sa' of butter in exchange for one sa' of milk. This type of issue has already been mentioned above.

Imam Malik, may Allah have mercy on him, said: If flour is sold for wheat in equal measure, there is no objection. But if half a mudd is wheat and half a mudd is flour, and it is sold in exchange for one mudd of wheat, it is not correct, because he has equated the excellence of his wheat by mixing flour with it.

Malik said: It is not permissible to exchange a mudd of butter and a mudd of milk for two mudds of butter, and this is like what we have described regarding dates, when two sa's of kabis and one sa' of hashaf are sold for three sa's of ajwa, when he said to his companion: "Two sa's of kabis for three sa's of ajwa is not permissible," so he did that to make the sale permissible. And the owner of the milk only included the milk with its butter in order to take the excess of his butter over the butter of his companion when he included the milk with it.

Malik said: There is no harm in exchanging flour for wheat, measure for measure, because he has refined the flour and sold it for wheat, measure for measure. But if he made half a mudd of flour and half a mudd of wheat, and sold that for a mudd of wheat, that would be like what we have described—it is not permissible. This is because he only intended to take the excess of his good wheat by mixing it with the flour, and this is not permissible.

The fodder for the animal of Hazrat Abdur Rahman bin Aswad ran out, so he said to his servant: Take wheat from the house and get barley weighed in exchange for it.