Muzabanah

Definition of "Muzabanah"

Essentially, muzabanah is a transaction in which the owner of fruit trees agrees to sell his fruit for an estimated equivalent amount of the dried fruit, such as palm fruit for dates or grapes for raisins. Muzabanah was an agricultural practice known to the people of Madinah and prohibited by the Prophet (see hadith of Jabir b. `Abd Allah), ostensibly because of the strong element of gharar present in such a transaction. The special case of araya (see entry) was exempted from this prohibition. Some fuqaha', particularly Maliki jurists, use the term muzabanah to describe any sale in which the weight or volume of the exchange items is unspecified.