Explanation of the Book of Sales-07
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The Shaykh : Good, then he said: And from Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him), who said: Mishkat al-Masabih 2854.
We have mentioned repeatedly the meaning of prohibition, which is a demand to refrain from an act with a sense of superiority, and that the default ruling is prohibition unless there is evidence to the contrary. Here, the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) forbade two types of sale, one of which is included in the other: the sale by pebble and the sale involving excessive uncertainty. And what is the meaning of the sale by pebble? Does it mean it is not permissible if I have a pebble to sell it?
The student: No...
The Shaykh : No, it is permissible for me to sell the pebble, but regarding the sale attributed to the pebble, here the attribution is not the type meaning "of" (with the preposition lam), but rather the type meaning "from," meaning the sale from the pebble, meaning from the types of sales where the pebble has a connection. Here the attribution is for the slightest connection, for the slightest connection. The sale by pebble has forms: it has forms:
The first form is when he says, "Throw this pebble, and whichever sheep from this flock it lands on is yours for such-and-such." He threw the pebble and it landed on a very lean sheep. He bought it for one hundred, but it is not worth twenty. Did he lose or did he gain?
The student: He lost.
The Shaykh : He lost. Good, another man came. "I sold you the sheep that this pebble hits when you throw it." He threw the pebble and had bought the sheep for fifty, but it landed on a sheep worth one hundred, right?
The student: ...
The Shaykh : Right? Did he gain or not?
The student: He gained.
The Shaykh : The buyer gained, and the seller lost, the opposite of the first case. So this is excessive uncertainty, because every contract that revolves between gain and loss is excessive uncertainty. It is gambling, gambling is not permissible.
The second form: I have a piece of land, so a man comes and says, "I want to buy a piece of land from you." I said, "Come, take this pebble and throw it, and whatever extent of land it reaches is yours for such-and-such." He threw it, he threw it, he threw it, and he was energetic, he was energetic, and the wind was behind it, behind it, meaning it was coming from behind him and he threw it... Did it help or not?
The student: It helped.
The Shaykh : Good, he threw it and it reached one hundred meters, one hundred meters, and he bought it for one hundred dirhams. One hundred meters is worth one thousand dirhams, so did he gain or not?
The student: He gained.
The Shaykh : He gained. The opposite: if he said, "I sold you what this pebble reaches for one hundred dirhams, for one thousand dirhams, for one thousand dirhams." He threw the pebble and the wind was facing him, and when he threw it, he felt his shoulder slip. Yes, where will the pebble land?
The student: ...
The Shaykh : Close, very close. So here, did he lose or not?
The student: He lost.
The Shaykh : He lost. So it is gambling, it is not permissible. Yes, because the subject is one, we mentioned two forms.
The third form is when he comes to a shop owner who has cloth and says, "Throw this pebble, and whichever piece of cloth or garment it lands on is yours for such-and-such." He threw the pebble, and it hit, yes, it is yours for ten, it is yours for ten. He threw the pebble and it hit a garment worth twenty. Who is the gainer?
The student: The buyer.
The Shaykh : The buyer. And another man threw the pebble and it hit a garment worth five. The gainer is the seller. So this is gambling, it is not permissible. These are three forms.
The fourth form is when he gathers his hands over pebbles, his hand over pebbles or his hands, meaning he takes a pile of earth pebbles, and let us suppose it is land with gravel. So he took in his hand like this gravel, and said, "I sold you from this flock the number of pebbles in my hand for one thousand dirhams, such-and-such?"
The student: Yes.
The Shaykh : Do you understand this, good?
The student: Yes.
The Shaykh : He said, "Come, I accepted, I accepted. Count." If he counts, the pebbles might come out to how many? Many, they might come out to few, depending on the hand and the smallness... and the quality of the grip. Yes, this is also excessive uncertainty. On the contrary, if he said, "I sold you this flock for the number of dirhams in your hand." In the first case, we specified the item sold, and here we specified? The price. We say this is also not permissible because of ignorance, not permissible because of ignorance. These are four forms? Right?
The student: Five.
The Shaykh : Five forms.
The student: Four.
The Shaykh : Okay, yes?
The student: ...
The Shaykh : Five forms, five forms.
The student: ...
The Shaykh : On the contrary... What are the first and second? They are like each other, different, different, different, without a doubt. They are five forms.
There is also a sixth form, a sixth form, where he says, "I sold you what weighs as much as this pebble from the weighed items for such-and-such," and he did not specify the pebble. I said "this," but he did not specify it. "I sold you what weighs as much as a pebble from this land, or what weighs as much as the pebbles it carries from this land, for such-and-such." We say this is also not permissible because it is unknown.
And with this, it becomes clear that the sale by pebble is included in his statement, "and the sale involving excessive uncertainty," the sale involving excessive uncertainty. And this is in fact considered a principle: every sale involving excessive uncertainty is forbidden. We will discuss the last phrase, if Allah wills, in the future, because it is independent. Yes?
The student: ...
The Shaykh : Yes
The student: ...
The Shaykh : No, my brother.
God’s Messenger forbade a transaction determined by throwing stones 1 , and the type which involves some uncertainty 2 .
نهى رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم عن بيع الحصاة، وعن بيع الغرر.We have mentioned repeatedly the meaning of prohibition, which is a demand to refrain from an act with a sense of superiority, and that the default ruling is prohibition unless there is evidence to the contrary. Here, the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) forbade two types of sale, one of which is included in the other: the sale by pebble and the sale involving excessive uncertainty. And what is the meaning of the sale by pebble? Does it mean it is not permissible if I have a pebble to sell it?
The student: No...
The Shaykh : No, it is permissible for me to sell the pebble, but regarding the sale attributed to the pebble, here the attribution is not the type meaning "of" (with the preposition lam), but rather the type meaning "from," meaning the sale from the pebble, meaning from the types of sales where the pebble has a connection. Here the attribution is for the slightest connection, for the slightest connection. The sale by pebble has forms: it has forms:
The first form is when he says, "Throw this pebble, and whichever sheep from this flock it lands on is yours for such-and-such." He threw the pebble and it landed on a very lean sheep. He bought it for one hundred, but it is not worth twenty. Did he lose or did he gain?
The student: He lost.
The Shaykh : He lost. Good, another man came. "I sold you the sheep that this pebble hits when you throw it." He threw the pebble and had bought the sheep for fifty, but it landed on a sheep worth one hundred, right?
The student: ...
The Shaykh : Right? Did he gain or not?
The student: He gained.
The Shaykh : The buyer gained, and the seller lost, the opposite of the first case. So this is excessive uncertainty, because every contract that revolves between gain and loss is excessive uncertainty. It is gambling, gambling is not permissible.
The second form: I have a piece of land, so a man comes and says, "I want to buy a piece of land from you." I said, "Come, take this pebble and throw it, and whatever extent of land it reaches is yours for such-and-such." He threw it, he threw it, he threw it, and he was energetic, he was energetic, and the wind was behind it, behind it, meaning it was coming from behind him and he threw it... Did it help or not?
The student: It helped.
The Shaykh : Good, he threw it and it reached one hundred meters, one hundred meters, and he bought it for one hundred dirhams. One hundred meters is worth one thousand dirhams, so did he gain or not?
The student: He gained.
The Shaykh : He gained. The opposite: if he said, "I sold you what this pebble reaches for one hundred dirhams, for one thousand dirhams, for one thousand dirhams." He threw the pebble and the wind was facing him, and when he threw it, he felt his shoulder slip. Yes, where will the pebble land?
The student: ...
The Shaykh : Close, very close. So here, did he lose or not?
The student: He lost.
The Shaykh : He lost. So it is gambling, it is not permissible. Yes, because the subject is one, we mentioned two forms.
The third form is when he comes to a shop owner who has cloth and says, "Throw this pebble, and whichever piece of cloth or garment it lands on is yours for such-and-such." He threw the pebble, and it hit, yes, it is yours for ten, it is yours for ten. He threw the pebble and it hit a garment worth twenty. Who is the gainer?
The student: The buyer.
The Shaykh : The buyer. And another man threw the pebble and it hit a garment worth five. The gainer is the seller. So this is gambling, it is not permissible. These are three forms.
The fourth form is when he gathers his hands over pebbles, his hand over pebbles or his hands, meaning he takes a pile of earth pebbles, and let us suppose it is land with gravel. So he took in his hand like this gravel, and said, "I sold you from this flock the number of pebbles in my hand for one thousand dirhams, such-and-such?"
The student: Yes.
The Shaykh : Do you understand this, good?
The student: Yes.
The Shaykh : He said, "Come, I accepted, I accepted. Count." If he counts, the pebbles might come out to how many? Many, they might come out to few, depending on the hand and the smallness... and the quality of the grip. Yes, this is also excessive uncertainty. On the contrary, if he said, "I sold you this flock for the number of dirhams in your hand." In the first case, we specified the item sold, and here we specified? The price. We say this is also not permissible because of ignorance, not permissible because of ignorance. These are four forms? Right?
The student: Five.
The Shaykh : Five forms.
The student: Four.
The Shaykh : Okay, yes?
The student: ...
The Shaykh : Five forms, five forms.
The student: ...
The Shaykh : On the contrary... What are the first and second? They are like each other, different, different, different, without a doubt. They are five forms.
There is also a sixth form, a sixth form, where he says, "I sold you what weighs as much as this pebble from the weighed items for such-and-such," and he did not specify the pebble. I said "this," but he did not specify it. "I sold you what weighs as much as a pebble from this land, or what weighs as much as the pebbles it carries from this land, for such-and-such." We say this is also not permissible because it is unknown.
And with this, it becomes clear that the sale by pebble is included in his statement, "and the sale involving excessive uncertainty," the sale involving excessive uncertainty. And this is in fact considered a principle: every sale involving excessive uncertainty is forbidden. We will discuss the last phrase, if Allah wills, in the future, because it is independent. Yes?
The student: ...
The Shaykh : Yes
The student: ...
The Shaykh : No, my brother.