# What is riba al-fadl and what does the hadith on gold, silver, wheat, barley, dates and salt say? *Riba al-fadl: the six-commodities hadith, hand-to-hand exchange and the exemption of gold and silver* - URL: https://muftiabulayth.org/r/ucdrblygy70/s/4/ - Date: 2017-10-19 · Kind: lesson · Transcript tier: machine · Recording: Are Mortgages & Bank Loans Haram? - Mufti Abu Layth (9:16–14:16) - Status: general teaching - Watch from the start of the segment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ucdrbLyGY70&t=556s - Recording page: https://muftiabulayth.org/r/ucdrblygy70/ **Topics:** Riba, mortgages and loans; Individual hadith explained **Summary (not a quotation; machine-made, unchecked):** The six-commodities hadith requires equal, hand-to-hand exchange and makes delay riba, even between different goods. Taken literally it would make credit impossible, so the scholars exempted gold and silver by a kind of consensus. **Checked position (checked by two independent reviews, not by the channel):** Mufti Abu Layth says the six-commodities hadith, taken as it stands, would make any purchase on credit impossible, and that the scholars by a kind of consensus exempted gold and silver from it while keeping the other four goods. **Evidence, his words at 12:46:** “Now the Hadith actually includes gold and silver too. Which would mean it's impossible impossible to buy anything on credit anything.” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ucdrbLyGY70&t=766s) ## Longer summary Mufti Abu Layth turns to riba al-fadl, taking more than one gives in an exchange within a category, and cites the sahih hadith in Sahih al-Bukhari, Sahih Muslim and other books that gold for gold, silver for silver, wheat for wheat, barley for barley, dates for dates and salt for salt must be equal, joking about books that announce five things and list four. He asks why anyone would trade a kilo of wheat for a kilo of wheat, and explains that the hadith also forbids delay: if one party collects his goods tomorrow, even between different categories, it is declared riba, which he says does not make much sense, since the hadith allows selling dates for wheat as one wishes so long as it is hand to hand, and the moment one side is delayed it becomes riba. He notes that the hadith includes gold and silver, which would make buying anything on credit impossible, and that the scholars by a kind of consensus exempted gold and silver, that is currency, from the hadith while keeping the remaining four. ## Sources and names cited - report: gold for gold silver for silver wheat for wheat barley for barley dates for dates salt for salt like for like hand to hand (unresolved; in al-Bukhari and Muslim, number not stated) - Sahih al-Bukhari - Sahih Muslim - riba al-fadl (riba of excess) - riba al-nasi'a (riba of delay) - ijma' ## Transcript (machine tier, 9:16–14:16) [8:54] Uh torture them, your wife or wives back then or whatever it is and you know, it was the whole highly oppressive kind of context to this usury that what that which contained this concept of riba. This kind of loan shark culture but to the power of 10. [9:21] Now, then you have the second category of riba which is ribal fadl. Ribal fadl is where we are tran- transacting with each other but we are taking more than what we're giving. Okay, now this is done between categories. Now this is strange because the hadith mentions this sahih hadith which is in Sahih Bukhari, it's in Sahih Muslim and many of the other books that the prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam said in the hadith that azzahabu bizahabi wal fiddatu bilfiddah, that gold by gold and silver by silver what [10:01] tamar with tamar that and dates by dates that uh and what shair with shair with milk with milk and and wheat by wheat and barley by barley and salt by salt These six things are mentioned almost did seven then. That's like in the thick books when they say, "Okay, these five things but they only mention four." I'd say three but mention five. [10:30] Right, so these six things in the Hadith are mentioned these categories. Now the prophet said that if you're trading in these Now it's strange that you see what the Hadith says is that you can they must be of equal proportionality. [10:53] The question here is why would you even trade in equal proportionality? Like why would I give you 1 kilo of wheat for 1 kilo of wheat? You wouldn't. So and then the interesting thing is it mentions ribbon nasa hand to hand exactly I'm coming to that. [11:16] But if you are to delay one of the payments bar that with the exception of gold and silver. So with the exception of currency if you are bartering and you are to delay one of the the goods so you're taking it now and you're collecting the other thing from so I'm taking something from you and you can so I say, you know, I'll give me that 1 kilo of dates you can take 2 kilos of wheat but you can collect that from me tomorrow. [11:48] So it's not instant it's not hand to hand. This is declared is he it's declared riba. Now this is the shocking thing. It doesn't actually make much sense. That why okay, if it's the same category maybe it's just a statement. Maybe the prophet is saying, you know, it should be like 1 kilo of wheat for 1 kilo of wheat to kind of this is an emphasis to draw away kind of uh any oppression. [12:23] But then the prophet says in the Hadith for the Hadith of the Hadith of the Hadith But if you're trading between categories like dates for wheat for be okay for shiktum sell as you want, you know, you don't have to be 1 kilo for 1 kilo. My cannot as long as it is yet and be yet as long as it is still hand in hand. [12:46] The moment you delay one of them it becomes riba. This is called riba fuddle. Now the Hadith actually includes gold and silver too. Which would mean it's impossible impossible to buy anything on credit anything. But what the scholars did is they all said didn't ijma whatever that means but some kind of a consensus that the scholars [13:20] came to an understanding that gold and silver is exempt from this Hadith even though the Hadith mentions gold and silver in the beginning. So they said we're going to exempt currency but the remaining four will stay. Now the question was what is this riba even about? So there was never any agreement on what riba was actually speaking about. [13:46] When Allah says in the Quran that Allah be haram riba that Allah be Allah this Allah has made transactions halal all transactions halal this alif lam is either lil jins or lil istigraq it means either kullul bay is halal or jinsul bay the category of transactions are halal. ## Cite Mufti Abu Layth Archive, segment ucdrbLyGY70/s/4. https://muftiabulayth.org/r/ucdrblygy70/s/4/ Not a fatwa: these answers were given to specific people at specific times. Ask a qualified scholar about your own situation.