A permissible form of the salam sale

Question

Question: Here some traders give landholders one maund (a unit of weight, ≈ 37 kg) of maize on a promise that in such-and-such a month they will take one maund of wheat in its place. The landholders take it and give at the promised time. The mullas too differ about this: some call it haram and some permissible, saying that it is permissible when the term is known and impermissible when it is unknown; some raise the point of measure by volume and weight. Therefore kindly write what is correct.

Answer

This transaction is impermissible. If they wish to carry it out in a permissible way, its form is this: the maize is sold right away, its price is received and given to the cultivator, or to whomever they wish to buy from, on the understanding: “For these rupees we will take wheat of such-and-such a kind at such-and-such a rate in such-and-such a month,” and he accepts it.

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

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