The Ruling on Selling a Model

The questioner : My Shaykh, suppose you have a specific type of goods, and a merchant from Iraq comes to us and asks, "What shipments are coming?" We say, "By Allah, it will arrive in a week or ten days." He says, "I will buy it before it arrives." Is there anything wrong with this?

The Shaykh : It is not permissible. Do not sell what you do not have.

The questioner : The... the same specific goods, the same item.

The Shaykh : And it is not possible for this not to change; it changes in detail, it changes.

The questioner : The condition is that it is the same item, and if anything differs, he will leave the goods.

The Shaykh : I mean, when it is said in such a case that it is the same item, like for example a car of such a model, such a make, and so on? Yes, if it is with the same specifications, then it is permissible.

The questioner : Because we, I mean, we have specific brands. For example, we say, "The such-and-such brand," and the colors are sometimes white, sometimes colored. We buy the specific item and know the type he wants. He says, "I will buy it upon its arrival."
Al-Halabi : What is the point now?

The Shaykh : I am saying if the specifications are... because the prohibition of selling what one does not have is understood in its meaning.