Habal al-habalah

Definition of "Habal al-habalah "

A type of sale practiced by the Arabs during the Jahiliyyah, in which the essence of the agreement between the two transacting parties, depended on a pregnant she-camel giving birth to a female calf which would subsequently become pregnant itself. The habal al-habalah transaction was prohibited by the Prophet, according to several well-known reports, ostensibly because of the extreme uncertainty (see gharar) in the essence of the contract, given that neither of the contractual parties can be even remotely certain that a pregnant she-camel would successfully give birth to a another she-camel, which would subsequently mature and become pregnant itself.