A condition of working off in day labour

Question

Question: Some traders give money to the poor on the condition of day labour: “In the season you will have to come to me for day labour ten times,” although in the season the earnings — the daily wage — are twenty rupees a day. Is it permissible to give and take this money in this way or not? Likewise, some people give money on the condition of receiving grain: for example, at the rate of five rupees per maund (a unit of weight, ≈ 37 kg)

Answer

This method of day labour is wrong. This method of taking grain is a salam sale (bayʿ al-salam — a sale with advance payment and deferred delivery); once the conditions of salam are made clear, the sale will indeed become valid, but the poor man deserves mercy, and making such a difference in the rate is great callousness.

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

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