Salam (deferred-delivery sale)

The ruling of salam

Salam (payment now, delivery later) is lawful by the Book, the Sunnah, consensus and reason, although it defies analogy since it bears on an object not present: the texts overrode the analogy. Ibn Abbas explained that a debt to a fixed term is lawful (sura al-Baqara 282). When the Prophet arrived in Madina, people were practicing salam on fruits one or 2 years ahead; he said:

Whoever makes salam on dates, let him do so for a known measure, a known weight, to a known term.

al-Bukhari 2240, Muslim 1604

The Companions practiced salam on wheat, barley and oil (al-Bukhari 2128). ash-Shafi'i reports the ummah's consensus on its lawfulness; al-Mawardi notes that only Sa'id ibn al-Musayyib is said to have invalidated it, an isolated report.

The conditions of the salam contract

• A known term: salam is a debt to a fixed due date; immediate salam is not valid for the majority (Hanafis, Malikis, Hanbalis), the term being the reason for the relief the contract grants. Partial payment before separation invalidates only the unpaid share for Hanafis, Shafi'is (soundest view) and Hanbalis, and the whole for Malikis and another opinion.
• A known quantity: by measure, weight, count or cubit, per the hadith; a measure unknown to people, or tied to a particular vessel or person, voids the contract (consensus reported by Ibn al-Mundir).
• Known attributes: species, type and quality; an-Nawawi reports the agreement that description is required. Not every attribute is listed, only those that visibly change the price (Ibn Qudamah).
• An object that exists in general at the due date: the majority (Malikis, Shafi'is, Hanbalis) require existence only at delivery; Hanafis require existence from contract to delivery; If the object cannot be delivered at the due date, the salam remains valid and the buyer chooses between waiting for the object and cancelling the contract and recovering the price, its like or its value.
• A known capital paid in the session: according to Abu Hanifa (for the measured, weighed and counted), the widespread Maliki view, the Shafi'i view and the Hanbali school.

Salam follows the thing's own standard, the measured by measure and the weighed by weight: a Hanafi view, a weak Shafi'i view and the Hanbali madhhab require it, while the Hanafi and Shafi'i madhhabs and one version of Ahmad admit salam on the measured by weight and the weighed by measure; Malikis take the customary standard of the land. Early delivery may be offered: the buyer must accept what does not spoil (Shafi'is, Hanbalis), while Malikis accept before the term only the exact contracted description, neither better ("drop it and I add"), nor less ("reduce it and hasten"), 2 forms close to riba. Mutual cancellation (iqala) of salam is admitted by the reported agreement of the jurists, with neither increase nor decrease among Malikis.

Practical note on salam

Salam shows that Islam accepts deferred delivery when the risks are tamed: known capital, known quantity, known quality, known date. Any advance-paid order can be checked against these 5 points.