Islam > Glossary > Byʿ al-ghrr
Discover the meaning of the term Byʿ al-ghrr (بيع الغرر) in Islamic vocabulary.
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Updated on 11 April 2026 at 1:05 AM
📖 2 min readThe sale carrying the risk of annulment through the loss of the thing sold.
Gharar: what whose outcome is unknown, one not knowing whether it will be or not. Al-Zarqani said in the Sharh al-Muwatta: gharar is a generic name for many sales: ignorance of price and of what is priced, fish in the water, a bird in the air. Al-Maziri defined it: what oscillates between soundness and defect. Ibn 'Arfa objected that this definition is not generic, since it excludes the gharar of the defective sale of hasha' (appraisal) and the two sales in one; he defined it: what one doubts that one of its two intended counter-values will usually come about (al-Ta'rifat, p. 160; al-Misbah al-Munir, art. gharar, p. 444; Sharh Hudud Ibn 'Arfa, 1/345; Mu'jam al-Mustalahat al-Iqtisadiyya, p. 211).
The sale of hazard, such as a bird in the air or fish in the water.
What carries a risk of annulment through the loss of the thing sold or otherwise (al-Ta'rifat, p. 50).
The sale of what has an apparent aspect one prefers and a hidden one one dislikes.
It is the sale carrying the risk of annulment through the loss of the thing sold; gharar, with vowelling of the ra': the hinting at ruin and what is veiled from your knowledge. In the Mabsut: 'gharar is what whose outcome is hidden.' In the Maghrib: 'gharar is the hazard whose occurrence one cannot know.'
Among the Hanafis, Shafi'is, Hanbalis, Zaydis and Ibadis: the sale of what whose existence or nonexistence is unknown, or whose scarcity or abundance is unknown, or which cannot be delivered. Al-girr: one who is deceived when deceived, of either gender; the feminine is also gharra. Plural: aghrar and gharar.