29.2 It Is Not Allowed To Sell What You Do Not Have
It is not allowed to sell a good before completing its ownership so selling it in this situation is a void sale. This is verified in two situations. Firstly, that one sells the good before he owns it. Secondly, he sells it after buying it but before he completes owning it via taking possession in that whose completion of ownership is conditioned upon taking possession. This is because the sale contract only occurs upon owned property so that which is not owned yet or is purchased but its ownership is not yet completed since its possession has not yet been taken, then there cannot occur over it the sale contract because there does not exist a place for the contract to occur over it in the Shar’a. The Messenger of Allah (saw) prohibited the sale of what the seller does not own. It is narrated from Hakeem bin Hazam (ra) who said:
“I said: O Messenger of Allah, there comes to me a man asking me to sell what I do not have to sell then I buy if from the market. He said: Do not sell what you do not have” (narrated by Ahmad).
And from Amru bin Shuaib from his father from his grandfather who said: The Messenger of Allah (saw) said:
“It is not allowed to borrow and sell, nor two conditions in one sale, nor a profit that is not included nor the sale of what you do not have” (Narrated by Abu Dawud).
The expression of the Messenger (saw) of “what you do not have” is general including your ability to deliver what you don’t completely own. This is strengthened by the ahadith which came with a prohibition of selling that which is not possessed in that whose completion of ownership is conditioned upon taking possession. This indicates that whoever buys that which requires taking possession until his purchase is completed is not permitted to sell until he takes its possession. So its rule became the rule of selling that which he does not own due to the Prophet (saw)’s statement: