Right of Cancellation in the Same Meeting Until Buyer and Seller Part Ways
✍ Written by: Imran Ayyub Lahori
➊ Ḥaḍrat Ḥakīm ibn Ḥizām رضي الله عنه narrates that the Prophet ﷺ said:
«البيعان بالخيار ما لم يتفرقا»
“The two parties involved in a sale have the option (to cancel) as long as they have not parted.”
[Bukhārī: 2079, Kitāb al-Buyūʿ: Bāb idhā bayyana al-bayʿān wa lam yaktumā wa naṣaḥā; Muslim: 1533; Abū Dāwūd: 3500; al-Nasāʾī: 4474; al-Muwaṭṭaʾ: 2/685]
➋ Ḥaḍrat Ibn ʿUmar رضي الله عنهما narrates that the Messenger of Allāh ﷺ said:
«المتبايعان كل واحد منهما بالخيار على صاحبه ما لم يتفرقا إلا بيع الخيار»
“The buyer and seller each have the option (to cancel) with respect to the other as long as they have not parted — except in the case of a sale with an agreed option (khiyār).”
[Bukhārī: 2107, Kitāb al-Buyūʿ: Bāb kam yajūzu al-khiyār; Muslim: 1531; al-Muwaṭṭaʾ: 2/671; Abū Dāwūd: 3454; al-Tirmidhī: 1245; Sharḥ Maʿānī al-Āthār: 4/12]
Bayʿ al-Khiyār means that the seller grants the buyer the option to cancel, or the buyer stipulates this condition. In such a case, the right of cancellation remains even after parting, until the agreed period ends.
◈ Difference of Opinion on the Meaning of ‘Parting’ (تفرق)
Imām Ibn Ḥazm رحمه الله stated emphatically that among the Tābiʿīn, only Imām al-Nakhaʿī opposed this view. Imām al-Shāfiʿī, Imām Aḥmad, Imām Isḥāq, and Imām Abū Thawr رحمهُم الله also held this opinion, saying that the buyer and seller retain the right to cancel the transaction as long as they remain in the same meeting.
[References: Bukhārī — Kitāb al-Buyūʿ: Bāb al-bayʿān bil-khiyār mā lam yatafarraqā; al-Tirmidhī — Kitāb al-Buyūʿ: Bāb mā jāʾa al-bayʿān bil-khiyār mā lam yatafarraqā; Ibn Abī Shaybah: 22574; Fatḥ al-Bārī: 5/57; Tuḥfat al-Aḥwadhī: 4/513; al-Mughnī: 6/10; Bidāyat al-Mujtahid: 2/140; al-Umm: 3/4–5; al-Ḥāwī: 5/22; al-Mabsūṭ: 13/17]
(Preferred View — Rājiḥ):
Without hesitation, the first opinion (physical separation) is stronger, as this is the apparent meaning of the explicit text.
Ibn Ḥajar رحمه الله states: Among the Companions, no one is known to have opposed Ibn ʿUmar رضي الله عنهما and Abū Barzah al-Aslamī رضي الله عنه in this matter. Even among the Ḥanafīs, the author of al-Taʿlīq al-Mumajjad acknowledged this and refuted all the evidences of the Ḥanafī school on this issue.
[Fatḥ al-Bārī: 5/57; Tuḥfat al-Aḥwadhī: 4/514; Nayl al-Awṭār: 3/561]
✍ Written by: Imran Ayyub Lahori
➊ Ḥaḍrat Ḥakīm ibn Ḥizām رضي الله عنه narrates that the Prophet ﷺ said:
«البيعان بالخيار ما لم يتفرقا»
“The two parties involved in a sale have the option (to cancel) as long as they have not parted.”
[Bukhārī: 2079, Kitāb al-Buyūʿ: Bāb idhā bayyana al-bayʿān wa lam yaktumā wa naṣaḥā; Muslim: 1533; Abū Dāwūd: 3500; al-Nasāʾī: 4474; al-Muwaṭṭaʾ: 2/685]
➋ Ḥaḍrat Ibn ʿUmar رضي الله عنهما narrates that the Messenger of Allāh ﷺ said:
«المتبايعان كل واحد منهما بالخيار على صاحبه ما لم يتفرقا إلا بيع الخيار»
“The buyer and seller each have the option (to cancel) with respect to the other as long as they have not parted — except in the case of a sale with an agreed option (khiyār).”
[Bukhārī: 2107, Kitāb al-Buyūʿ: Bāb kam yajūzu al-khiyār; Muslim: 1531; al-Muwaṭṭaʾ: 2/671; Abū Dāwūd: 3454; al-Tirmidhī: 1245; Sharḥ Maʿānī al-Āthār: 4/12]
Bayʿ al-Khiyār means that the seller grants the buyer the option to cancel, or the buyer stipulates this condition. In such a case, the right of cancellation remains even after parting, until the agreed period ends.
◈ Difference of Opinion on the Meaning of ‘Parting’ (تفرق)
- Physical Separation (تفرق بالأبدان):
Those who say that the option remains until physical separation include: Ḥaḍrat Abū Barzah al-Aslamī, Ḥaḍrat Ibn ʿUmar, Ḥaḍrat Ibn ʿAbbās, Ḥaḍrat Abū Hurayrah رضي الله عنهم, Imām Shurayḥ, Imām al-Shaʿbī, Imām Ṭāwūs, Imām ʿAṭāʾ, Saʿīd ibn al-Musayyib, Imām al-Zuhrī, Imām al-Awzāʿī, and al-Ḥasan al-Baṣrī رحمهُم الله.
Imām Ibn Ḥazm رحمه الله stated emphatically that among the Tābiʿīn, only Imām al-Nakhaʿī opposed this view. Imām al-Shāfiʿī, Imām Aḥmad, Imām Isḥāq, and Imām Abū Thawr رحمهُم الله also held this opinion, saying that the buyer and seller retain the right to cancel the transaction as long as they remain in the same meeting.
- Completion of Contract by Words (تفرق بالأقوال):
The Ḥanafīs, the Mālikīs (except Ibn Ḥabīb), and Ibrāhīm al-Nakhaʿī held that the right of cancellation ends once the transaction is verbally concluded, even if the parties are still physically together.
[References: Bukhārī — Kitāb al-Buyūʿ: Bāb al-bayʿān bil-khiyār mā lam yatafarraqā; al-Tirmidhī — Kitāb al-Buyūʿ: Bāb mā jāʾa al-bayʿān bil-khiyār mā lam yatafarraqā; Ibn Abī Shaybah: 22574; Fatḥ al-Bārī: 5/57; Tuḥfat al-Aḥwadhī: 4/513; al-Mughnī: 6/10; Bidāyat al-Mujtahid: 2/140; al-Umm: 3/4–5; al-Ḥāwī: 5/22; al-Mabsūṭ: 13/17]
(Preferred View — Rājiḥ):
Without hesitation, the first opinion (physical separation) is stronger, as this is the apparent meaning of the explicit text.
Ibn Ḥajar رحمه الله states: Among the Companions, no one is known to have opposed Ibn ʿUmar رضي الله عنهما and Abū Barzah al-Aslamī رضي الله عنه in this matter. Even among the Ḥanafīs, the author of al-Taʿlīq al-Mumajjad acknowledged this and refuted all the evidences of the Ḥanafī school on this issue.
[Fatḥ al-Bārī: 5/57; Tuḥfat al-Aḥwadhī: 4/514; Nayl al-Awṭār: 3/561]
