SHOPPING SECTION · 24 – Selling the fruit a tree will bear for a few years.
Jabir ibn Abdullah (may Allah be pleased with him) narrated:
The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings upon him) forbade selling the fruit that a tree would bear within a few years, and forgave the price of fruit destroyed by calamity. [204]
Abu Dawud said: A sound narration regarding the loss of one-third of the produce has not reached me from the Messenger of Allah. This is only the view of the people of Medina.
EXPLANATION
Sinīn: The plural of “sana,” meaning years.
Caiha: Refers to a calamity such as hail or frost that destroys the harvest. It is forbidden to sell the fruit of a garden for a price, say three thousand or five thousand dinars, which it will bear within three years. Because it is not known whether the garden will produce fruit in future years, nor whether it will be afflicted by a calamity. However, if a gardener says, “I have sold the kilogram or measure of the fruit that will come from my garden in the coming years for five dirhams,” and takes a specified advance payment from the buyer, this is permissible. Because if the fruit does not appear in the garden, he will return the advance payment he received. Also, the fruit of the garden may be sold after it has ripened. If the fruit is destroyed before it is harvested, and if the amount destroyed is up to one-third of the produce, then the price of the destroyed produce is not deducted from the buyer’s debt.
Jabir, may Allah be pleased with him, narrated:
The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, forbade mu'awama (annual sale). One of the narrators, Abu Zubeir and Sa’id bin Mina, said instead of “mu'awama,” "bay‘u al-sinin."