Sales, Contracts, and Commercial Transactions

Al-Tahawi's chapter on commercial transactions begins with the conditions for a valid sale (bay'). A sale requires an offer (ijab) and acceptance (qabul) from parties who are legally competent, referring to a specific object that exists, that is owned by the seller, that can be delivered, and whose price is known. The Hanafi school is notable for its acceptance of the sale of future goods under certain conditions and its broad approach to what constitutes a valid offer and acceptance, including conduct-based contracts where the transaction is completed through the exchange of goods and payment without explicit verbal exchange (bay' al-mu'atah), though Abu Hanifa's own position required verbal offer and acceptance for the sale to be legally binding.

The prohibition of riba is addressed with the Hanafi classification into riba al-fadl (excess in exchange of the same commodity) and riba al-nasi'ah (delay in one of the counter-values in exchanges of ribawi commodities). The six ribawi commodities named in the prophetic hadith are gold, silver, wheat, barley, dates, and salt. Exchange of the same commodity must be equal in quantity and simultaneous (hand to hand). When different ribawi commodities are exchanged, they may differ in quantity but must still be simultaneous. The Hanafi school extends the riba prohibition beyond these six to commodities sharing the same effective cause (illah): all edible items sold by weight share the same illah as wheat and barley, and all monetary metals share the illah of gold and silver. This 'illah-based extension is a hallmark of Hanafi legal reasoning in commercial law.

Gharar (excessive uncertainty or risk) as a ground for contract invalidity is also treated by al-Tahawi. The Prophet forbade sales involving gharar, and the Hanafi school identifies several categories of prohibited uncertainty: selling a thing before it comes into existence without being a salam contract, selling something the seller cannot deliver, and selling something whose essential characteristics are unknown to the buyer. However, the Hanafi school accepts minor uncertainty that is unavoidable in commercial practice, following the principle that prohibitions of gharar apply to major uncertainty that leads to dispute and harm. Salam (advance purchase) contracts are a specific exception: paying in advance for a commodity to be delivered later is permitted provided the commodity, quantity, quality, delivery time, and place are all specified.

Partnerships (shirkah) occupy an important section of the Hanafi commercial law. Al-Tahawi distinguishes between shirkah al-amwal (capital partnerships), shirkah al-a'mal (labor partnerships), and shirkah al-wujuh (credit-based partnerships). Abu Hanifa and Muhammad al-Shaybani permitted all three types, while Abu Yusuf restricted certain forms. In a valid Hanafi capital partnership, each partner contributes capital and shares in profits according to the agreed ratio, with losses distributed according to capital contribution ratios regardless of the profit-sharing agreement. The Hanafi mudharabah (sleeping partnership) is similarly governed: the capital provider (rabb al-mal) bears losses in proportion to his capital, while the working partner (mudharib) loses his labor; profit is shared according to the agreed ratio. Al-Tahawi's concise recording of these rules demonstrates the practical orientation of Hanafi fiqh toward the needs of a commercial society.