due to the literal meaning of the command, and because it is a contract of exchange, so having witnesses should be obligatory for it, just like marriage. Our view is based on the saying of God, the Almighty: {And if one of you entrusts the other, then let the one who is entrusted discharge his trust} [Quran 2:283] (88). Abu Sa'id said: 'The matter has reverted to trust,' and he recited this verse. Furthermore, the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) bought food from a Jew and pledged his coat of mail to him (89). He also bought trousers from a man (90), and a horse from a Bedouin, which the Bedouin denied until Khuzaymah ibn Thabit testified for him (91), and it was not reported that he had witnesses for any of that. The Companions used to trade during his era in the markets, yet he did not command them to have witnesses, nor was it reported that they did so, and the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) did not rebuke them. If they had been using witnesses for all their sales, it would not have been omitted from the reports. The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) ordered 'Urwah ibn al-Ja'd to buy a sacrificial animal for him (93), and he did not command him to have witnesses. 'Urwah informed him that he bought two sheep and sold one of them, and he did not rebuke him for leaving out witnesses. Moreover, trading is frequent among people in their markets and elsewhere; if having witnesses were obligatory for everything they trade, it would lead to the hardship which has been removed from us by His saying