Ahmad 4491

Its chain of transmission is sahih. It has already appeared as no. 394 through the route of Malik from Nafi, and it is found in Muwatta 2:149-150 at greater length.The abridged version given here was also narrated by Muslim and Tirmidhi, as noted in Muntaqa 2790, while the longer version was narrated by Bukhari and Muslim and others with different wordings carrying the same meaning, as also noted in Muntaqa 2791-2793.Its meaning has already appeared in the hadith of Ibn Abbas, nos. 2145 and 2645, and the tafsir of habl al-hablah was given there as well.Here he adds the statement of Ibn Athir, "Al-habl, with the fatha vowel, is a verbal noun that was used to name that which is carried, just as it was named al-haml. The letter ta was only added to it to convey the sense of femininity within it. So the first habl refers to what is in the wombs of the she-camels, that is, the pregnancy, while the second refers to that fetus while it is still in the wombs of the she-camels."One [interpretation] is that it involves uncertainty and the sale of something not yet created, namely selling what the fetus that is in the she-camel's womb will itself carry once grown, on the assumption that it will turn out to be female. It is thus the sale of the offspring of an offspring. It has also been said that what is meant by habl al-hablah is selling something to a deadline set at the time when the pregnancy in the she-camel's womb gives birth, making it an unknown deadline, and this is not valid."The first opinion is the correct one, because it is what is mentioned in the hadith, as we indicated earlier, so it is the definitive interpretation."