Question
Question: What is the evidence that indicates dividing sales into valid, corrupt, and void; and (the evidence) for the establishment of “option” (khiyār) in some sales? And what is the difference between that which entails corruption and that which entails an option?
Answer
Answer—and Allah is the One who grants success and aid: A valid sale is that in which its essentials—its pillars and its conditions—are complete; and that is what is intended by His saying Most High: “Allah has permitted sale” [al-Baqarah:275], and His saying: “…unless it be a trade by mutual consent among you” [al-Nisāʾ:29].
Sale was known before the revelation of the Qur’an by its reality, its components, its conditions, and its pillars.
A void (bāṭil) sale is a sale in which its four pillars are not complete—seller, buyer, subject of sale, and price—or a sale that falls under what has been prohibited.
A corrupt (fāsid) sale is one in which a condition—other than the four we mentioned—has been deficient; the deficiency of such a condition entails corruption.
That which entails an option is something different from a deficiency of a condition; the options pertain to the mutual consent that is between the two contracting parties, about which He Most High said: “…a trade by mutual consent among you” [al-Nisāʾ:29]. For consent may not be realized until after the sale contract.
For example: the sale may meet the conditions of validity and its pillars, but the purchaser has not seen the merchandise, or there is a defect which he only discovers after the contract: then the purchaser has the option when he sees the merchandise or discovers the defect—either he is pleased and the sale stands, or he returns it and the sale is rescinded. This is what is entailed by His saying Most High: “…a trade by mutual consent among you” [al-Nisāʾ:29].
Once you understand that, (you see that) what prompted the division as stated is the divergence of rulings—so that the names distinguish the categories. By what we have stated, the answer is known to what was mentioned in the question. Praise be to Allah in all states, and may Allah bless Muhammad and his family and grant them peace—the best of families.
Source: Min Thimār al-ʿIlm wa al-Ḥikmah vol.2
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