The Meaning of Salam in Sales
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The questioner:
Honorable Shaykh, may Allah preserve you, I hope you will clarify for me the meaning of salam.
The Shaykh:
Salam is paying the price in advance and deferring the delivery of the item. You say, "Here are one hundred riyals; take them on the condition that you pay me one hundred sa' of wheat at harvest time, or one hundred kilograms of dates at the time of picking." At the time of the contract, there are no dates and no wheat; the crops have not yet been planted, or people have not yet planted them, and the date palms have not yet sprouted. This is a sale of something that does not yet exist; it is a sale of something that will exist in the future. This is what is called salam: paying the price in advance and deferring the delivery of the item. This is permissible by the consensus of the Muslims. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) found the people in Madinah advancing payments for fruits for one or two years when he arrived, and he approved their practice. However, he stipulated that it must be with a known measure, a known weight, and a known term. The Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) only prohibited gharar (excessive uncertainty) and ignorance, and he permitted the basic contract of salam. One or two years. Yes.
The questioner:
And it is valid.
The Shaykh:
People require this; it necessitates the permissibility of salam. Yes.
Honorable Shaykh, may Allah preserve you, I hope you will clarify for me the meaning of salam.
The Shaykh:
Salam is paying the price in advance and deferring the delivery of the item. You say, "Here are one hundred riyals; take them on the condition that you pay me one hundred sa' of wheat at harvest time, or one hundred kilograms of dates at the time of picking." At the time of the contract, there are no dates and no wheat; the crops have not yet been planted, or people have not yet planted them, and the date palms have not yet sprouted. This is a sale of something that does not yet exist; it is a sale of something that will exist in the future. This is what is called salam: paying the price in advance and deferring the delivery of the item. This is permissible by the consensus of the Muslims. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) found the people in Madinah advancing payments for fruits for one or two years when he arrived, and he approved their practice. However, he stipulated that it must be with a known measure, a known weight, and a known term. The Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) only prohibited gharar (excessive uncertainty) and ignorance, and he permitted the basic contract of salam. One or two years. Yes.
The questioner:
And it is valid.
The Shaykh:
People require this; it necessitates the permissibility of salam. Yes.
Source
قناة «العلامة الدكتور صالح الفوزان»، 35 من 89|شرح العدة في شرح العمدة|كتاب الوصايا|صالح الفوزان|الفقه|كبار العلماء — youtube.com (1:09:46)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.