Islamic Fiqh > Financial transactions > Gharar: forbidden uncertain sales
Selling what one does not own or what is uncertain: gharar's definition, expressly forbidden sales and its application to modern contracts.
Gharar sales are those whose object or price is hidden or hazardous: ownership depends on chance, producing gain and loss without a real exchange. The Sunnah forbids several of them: mulamasa and munabadha (al-Bukhari 2144, Muslim 1512), muhaqala and muzabana (al-Bukhari 2186, 2187), fruit before ripening (al-Bukhari 2082), and food resold before full possession (al-Bukhari 2025, Muslim 1526). The common thread: everything that must be known (object, quality, quantity, possession) must be known before the contract; advance orders remain possible in the disciplined form of salam.
Contents
Updated on 07 October 2026 at 6:42 PM
Sales forbidden by the Prophet: gharar sales, sales involving chance, combined sales, invalid conditions, with their reasons.