Islam > Glossary > Byʿ al-ḥṣaa
Discover the meaning of the term Byʿ al-ḥṣaa (بيع الحصاة) in Islamic vocabulary.
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Updated on 11 April 2026 at 1:05 AM
📖 3 min readIt is the sale by throwing the pebble; it was known in the age of ignorance and its prohibition came; in the hadith forbidding gharar, related from Abu Hurayra: "The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) forbade the sale of the pebble and the sale of gharar" (Muslim, Kitab al-Buyu', hadith 4). The jurists differed over its explanation: the Hanafis said: the seller throws a pebble over a heap of garments, and whatever garment the pebble falls upon becomes the thing sold, without examination, deliberation, or an option to rescind afterward; this explanation of the hadith is related by all the jurists of the schools. (a) The Malikis said: it is a binding sale upon whoever the pebble falls among the garments, without the thrower's intending any specific thing, with the restriction al-Dardir added in case the goods or garments differ. (b) The Shafi'is said, in explaining it: "I sell you of these garments whatever the pebble falls upon".
That the seller say to the buyer: "I sell you, of these goods, whatever the pebble falls upon, for such a sum".
It is one of the sales of the age of ignorance: the seller says to the buyer: "I sell you, of these goods, whatever your pebble falls upon when you throw it from the ground to where your pebble stops"; or the buyer says: "as soon as I throw the pebble to you, the sale is concluded".
One of the sales of the age of ignorance which the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) forbade. Its form among them: the seller says: "throw this pebble"; whatever garment it falls upon is yours for a dirham. It has been said: he says: "I sell you of this land the extent the pebble reaches when you throw it, for such a sum". It has been said: he says: "I sell you this for such a sum, provided that as soon as I throw this pebble the sale is concluded". All such sales are void.