What is the difference between a forward sale (salam) and selling what one does not own?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question:
What is the difference between a forward sale (salam) and a person selling what he does not own?
Answer:
He sold an item by description. It is permissible to sell an item by a precise description where the ambiguity is removed, and he will own it in the end. If he does not own it, the sale is annulled at that time, and the money is returned to its owner. There is no risk and no harm in this. If the goods are found when the due date arrives, he takes them. If he wishes to wait until the debtor obtains them, he may do so. If he wishes to annul the contract and take back the money he paid, he may do so. This is something Allah and His Messenger have made permissible, and we do not object to it. Do people’s needs require this?
What is the difference between a forward sale (salam) and a person selling what he does not own?
Answer:
He sold an item by description. It is permissible to sell an item by a precise description where the ambiguity is removed, and he will own it in the end. If he does not own it, the sale is annulled at that time, and the money is returned to its owner. There is no risk and no harm in this. If the goods are found when the due date arrives, he takes them. If he wishes to wait until the debtor obtains them, he may do so. If he wishes to annul the contract and take back the money he paid, he may do so. This is something Allah and His Messenger have made permissible, and we do not object to it. Do people’s needs require this?
Source
قناة «العلامة الدكتور صالح الفوزان»، ما الفرق بين بيع السَلم وبيع ما لا يملك؟ للشيخ صالح الفوزان — youtube.com
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.