The Ruling on Selling Animals by Weight While Alive: A Comparative Jurisprudential Study

Abstract

This study investigates a contemporary jurisprudential issue concerning the ruling on selling animals whose meat is lawful to eat while alive and determining their price by weight. The research aims to clarify the relationship between this type of sale and the traditional jazāf (bulk) sale, as well as to examine the jurists’ differing opinions on the permissibility of selling live animals by weight. The study adopts an inductive-analytical methodology, by tracing and analyzing the views of classical jurists and re-examining them in light of current commercial practices. The findings reveal that this issue is relatively modern, as classical jurists did not explicitly address the sale of live animals by weight—particularly livestock—but rather discussed selling them in bulk. The study further concludes that the most precise definition of sale (bayʿ) is that it is “a contract of exchange concerning non-utilitarian items and non-pleasurable benefits, involving a bargained compensation other than gold or silver.” The research ultimately affirms that the preponderant opinion supports the permissibility of selling live animals by weight, based on valid legal evidence consistent with the principles of fairness, transparency, and the prevention of gharar (uncertainty), as detailed throughout the study.