Conditions of Salaf Transaction
Issue No.1804- There are six conditions for an in-advance payment contract:1) The qualities and characteristics on account of which the price of a commodity may be affected should be specified. However, it is not necessary to be very precise, and it will be sufficient if it can be said that its characteristics are known. For this reason, the transaction on an in-advance payment would be void in the commodities, whose characteristics cannot be specified (e.g., some kinds of hides and meat and carpets).2) Before the buyer and the seller separate from each other, the buyer should deliver the full amount to the seller. If the buyer pays a certain percentage from the price of the commodity to the seller, the transaction will be equally valid to that percentage. However, the seller can rescind the transaction.3) The time limit should be accurately specified. In case, therefore, the seller says that he will deliver the commodity when the crop is harvested, while the harvest time is not exactly known, the transaction is void.4) A time should be specified for the delivery of the commodity when the commodity is usually available.5) As an obligatory precaution, the place of delivery of the commodity (i.e., the city or the town in which the commodity is handed over in) should be specified unless in case the place is obviously understood from their conversation.6) The weight or the volume of the commodity should be specified. But, there is no harm in selling through an in-advance payment contract, a commodity which is usually bought and sold by observation, like various kinds of carpets, provided that its characteristics are mentioned. However, the difference in the quality of individual items of the commodity must be so small that the people may not attach any importance to it.
