The ruling on selling land described without seeing it
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question:
Yes. This questioner says: In our country, there are agricultural plots of land that are defined by their four boundaries and have names known to all the residents of the area. If one of the owners of these plots comes and says to another, "I will sell you such-and-such a plot of land," the buyer says to him, "You are a person of complete trust." So, he estimates it by the meter or by the rope. Okay, that is what is customary among us. Yes. He sets the price, appoints two witnesses, writes the contract, and brings it to him, and he will pay the price to him immediately. The question is: Is such a sale permissible or not?
Answer:
If the buyer knows the land and recognizes it, then this is a permissible sale. However, if he does not know it and relies only on the seller's words, then the sale is not valid, because a condition for the validity of a sale is that the item being sold must be known. If he knows it and recognizes it, then there is no harm in buying it based on his knowledge and his having seen it. But it is not permissible for him to sell it until he takes possession of it—until he takes possession of it, meaning that the owner leaves it for him to take. The buyer goes to it, looks at it, and inspects it; this is taking possession. Taking possession here is by leaving it for him; taking possession of something that is not moved is by leaving it for him. If he goes to it, inspects it, and finds it as he knew it before, then he may sell it if he wishes.
The presenter:
May Allah reward you
Yes. This questioner says: In our country, there are agricultural plots of land that are defined by their four boundaries and have names known to all the residents of the area. If one of the owners of these plots comes and says to another, "I will sell you such-and-such a plot of land," the buyer says to him, "You are a person of complete trust." So, he estimates it by the meter or by the rope. Okay, that is what is customary among us. Yes. He sets the price, appoints two witnesses, writes the contract, and brings it to him, and he will pay the price to him immediately. The question is: Is such a sale permissible or not?
Answer:
If the buyer knows the land and recognizes it, then this is a permissible sale. However, if he does not know it and relies only on the seller's words, then the sale is not valid, because a condition for the validity of a sale is that the item being sold must be known. If he knows it and recognizes it, then there is no harm in buying it based on his knowledge and his having seen it. But it is not permissible for him to sell it until he takes possession of it—until he takes possession of it, meaning that the owner leaves it for him to take. The buyer goes to it, looks at it, and inspects it; this is taking possession. Taking possession here is by leaving it for him; taking possession of something that is not moved is by leaving it for him. If he goes to it, inspects it, and finds it as he knew it before, then he may sell it if he wishes.
The presenter:
May Allah reward you
Source
75-اللقاء الأسبوعي مع الشيخ صالح الفوزان - 10 — archive.org (6:15)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.