The Muslims. The second category is that which is unknown to the Muslims, such as the Feast of Palm Sunday (al-sha'anin), the Feast of Unleavened Bread (al-fatir), and similar events; in this case, a Salam contract is not permissible because the Muslims do not know it, and it is not permissible to emulate the People of the Covenant (ahl al-dhimma) in this regard, because their word is not accepted, and because they move it forward or backward based on a calculation of theirs that the Muslims do not know. If one enters into a Salam contract until a time that does not vary, such as the month of December (Kanun al-Awwal), but the contracting parties or one of them does not know it, it is not valid, because it is unknown to him.

776 - Issue: He said: "(And) that it be present at its time of delivery."

This is the fifth condition, which is that the subject of the Salam must be generally available at its time of delivery; we know of no disagreement regarding this. This is because when it is as such, it is possible to deliver it when delivery becomes due. If it is not generally available, it is not considered present at the time of delivery according to the outward rule, so it cannot be delivered, and thus its sale is not valid, like the sale of a runaway slave (abiq), or even more so; for the Salam has already been permitted with various types of uncertainty (gharar) due to necessity, so no other uncertainty should be tolerated, lest the uncertainty therein become excessive. Therefore, it is not permissible to enter into a Salam contract for grapes or dates until February or March, nor until a time when its existence is unknown, such as the beginning or end of the grape season where it is only found rarely, as there is no guarantee against its scarcity.

Section: It is not permissible to enter into a Salam contract for the fruit of a specific orchard or a small village, because there is no guarantee against its loss or scarcity. Ibn al-Mundhir said: Declaring the Salam invalid if one enters into a contract for the fruit of a specific orchard is like a consensus (ijma') among the scholars. Among those from whom we have preserved this view are al-Thawri, Malik, al-Awza'i, al-Shafi'i, the scholars of opinion (ashab al-ra'y), and Ishaq. He said: We narrated from the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, that a man from the Jews advanced him some dinars for dates that were specified, and the Jew said: "From the dates of the orchard of the sons of so-and-so." The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said: "As for the orchard of the sons of so-and-so, no, but rather a specified measure until a specified term." Narrated by Ibn Majah and others, and it was narrated by Abu Ishaq al-Juzajani in "Al-Mutarjam." He said: The people have reached a consensus on the disapproval of this sale. And because it...