Seadet-i Ebediyye - Endless Bliss Fifth Fascicle

etc.) Capacity or weight can be measured by using any
indeterminate measure of capacity or a stone. It is not
permissible to measure the themen in this way in a (sale termed)
selem.
3– If the litre-price of a tinslate can of olive oil is stated without
any mention of its total amount, only one litre of it has been sold,
according to (the ijtihâd of) Imâm a’zam (Abû Hanîfa). If its
amount becomes known by way of statement or measurement at
the place of bargain, all of it has been sold. According to the
Imâmeyn, it would be sahîh without measurement as well. The
fatwâ [1] is in corcordance with their ijtihâd. With a flock of sheep,
however, neither the flock nor an individual sheep would have
been sold. For, the sheep in a flock are not identical with one
another. Another exception is cloth. So is the case with qiyamî
things that are sold by number and which differ from one another.
The Imâmeyn, [i.e. the two Imâms, Imâm Abû Yûsuf and Imâm
Muhammad,] said that these things are like olive oil. The fatwâ
agrees with this ijtihâd. Also in this category are sales of orchards,
building plots and fields.
4– When its total amount and total price are stated and no
mention is made to its price by unit of measurement, it has been
sold in its totality. Its measurement is unnecessary. In the first and
fourth kinds of sale, if the buyer measures the mebî’ when he
takes possession of it and finds that it is less (than the stated
amount), he has the choice to cancel the sale or to take back the
difference of the themen. He cannot demand the difference of the
mebî’. If the mebî’ turns out much more, he gives the amount left
over back to the seller. For, always, the binding amount is the one
pronounced at the time of agreement. If the difference is less than
the value of five-thousandths of a dirham or silver or one habba [2]
of gold, he does not return it. In a sale of the fourth category.
difference of a manufactured item that is sold by weight, e.g. a
copper saucepan; or of items of property that are measured by
length, e.g. cloth and a building plot, canot be separated. So, when
it turns out less (than the amount stated), the buyer has an option
[1] Fatwâ is a conclusive explanation wherein an authorized Islamic
scholar answers Muslims’ questions on a religious matter. Sources
and documents on which the fatwâ is based are appended to the
fatwâ.
[2] Habba is a unit of weight equal to that of a grain of barley.
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