Yahya related to me, that Malik said, "The generally agreed on
way of doing things among us about a man buying cloth in one city, and
then taking it to another city to sell as a murabaha, is that he is
not reckoned to have the wage of an agent, or any allowance for
ironing, folding, straightening, expenses, or the rent of a house. As
for the cost of transporting the drapery, it is included in the basic
price, and no share of the profit is allocated to it unless the agent
tells all of that to the investor. If they agree to share the profits
accordingly after knowledge of it, there is no harm in that."
Malik said, "As for bleaching, tailoring, dyeing, and such things,
they are treated in the same way as drapery. The profit is reckoned in
them as it is reckoned in drapery goods. So if he sells the drapery
goods without clarifying the things we named as not getting profit,
and if the drapery has already gone, the transport is to be reckoned,
but no profit is given. If the drapery goods have not gone the
transaction between them is null and void unless they make a new
mutual agreement on what is to be permitted between them ."
Malik spoke about an agent who bought goods for gold or silver, and
the exchange rate on the day of purchase was ten dirhams to the dinar.
He took them to a city to sell murabaha, or sold them where he
purchased them according to the exchange rate of the day on which he
sold them. If he bought them for dirhams and he sold them for dinars,
or he bought them for dinars and he sold them for dirhams, and the
goods had not gone then he had a choice. If he wished, he accepted to
sell the goods and if he wished, he left them. If the goods had been
sold, he had the price for which the salesman bought them, and the
salesman was reckoned to have the profit on what they were bought for,
over what the investor gained as profit.
Malik said, "If a
man sells goods worth one hundred dinars for one hundred and ten, and
he hears after that they are worth ninety dinars, and the goods have
gone, the seller has a choice. If he likes, he has the price of the
goods on the day they were taken from him unless the price is more
than the price for which he was obliged to sell them in the first
place, and he does not have more than that - and it is one hundred and
ten dinars. If he likes, it is counted as profit against ninety unless
the price his goods reached was less than the value. He is given the
choice between what his goods fetch and the capital plus the profit,
which is ninety-nine dinars."
Malik said, "If someone sells
goods in murabaha and he says, 'It was valued at one hundred dinars to
me.' Then he hears later on, that it was worth one hundred and twenty
dinars, the customer is given the choice. If he wishes, he gives the
salesman the value of the goods on the day he took them, and if he
wishes, he gives the price for which he bought them according to the
reckoning of what profit he gives him, as far as it goes, unless that
is less than the price for which he bought them, for he should not
give the owner of the goods a loss from the price for which he bought
them because he was satisfied with that. The owner of the goods came
to seek extra, so the buyer has no argument against the salesman in
that to make a reduction from the first price for which he bought it
according to the list of contents."
Muwatta Malik Book 31, Hadith 77
The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) sent us on foot to get spoil, but we returned without getting any. When he saw the signs of distress on our faces, he stood up on our faces and said: O Allah, do not put them under my care, for I would be too weak to care for them; do not put them in care of themselves, for they would be incapable of that, and do not put them in the care of men, for they would choose the best things for themselves. He then placed his hand on my head and said: Ibn Hawalah, when you see the caliphate has settled in the holy land, earthquakes, sorrows and serious matters will have drawn near and on that day the Last Hour will be nearer to mankind than this hand of mine is to your head.
Abu Dawud said: 'Abd Allah b. Hawalah belongs to Hims.
Sunan Abi Dawud Book 15, Hadith 59