The Messenger of Allah ﷺ forbade the sale of date-palms until their fruit ripens and shows color, and the sale of grain until it whitens and is safe from blight. He forbade it to both seller and buyer.
أن رسول الله ﷺ نهي عن بيع النخل حتى يزهو، وعن السنبل حتى يبيض ويأمن العاهة، نهي البائع والمشتري.
Muslim narrated it in the Book of Sales (1535) through several routes from Ismail, from Ayub, from Nafi, from Ibn Umar, and related it as such. Abu Dawud (3368), Tirmidhi (1226), and Nasai (4551) all narrated it by this same route.Bayhaqi said (5/303), "The mention of ears of grain in this hadith is something Ayub Sakhtiyani alone reported from Nafi, among all of Nafi's companions. Ayub is trustworthy and authoritative, and an addition from someone like him is accepted. This hadith is one where Bukhari and Muslim differed over including it in the Sahih. Muslim included it, while Bukhari left it out. The hadith on the prohibition of selling fruit before its ripeness becomes apparent was narrated by Yahya bin Saeed Ansari, Musa bin Uqba, Malik bin Anas, Ubaydullah bin Umar, Dahhak bin Uthman, and others, from Nafi. None of them mentioned in it the prohibition of selling ears of grain until they turn white, except Ayub. Salim bin Abdullah, Abdullah bin Dinar, and others narrated it from Ibn Umar, and none of them mentioned what Ayub mentioned. Jabir bin Abdullah Ansari, Zayd bin Thabit, Abdullah bin Abbas, Abu Hurairah, and others narrated it from the Prophet ﷺ, and none of them mentioned what Ayub mentioned, except for what Hammad bin Salama narrated from Humayd Tawil, from Anas bin Malik, who said, 'The Prophet ﷺ forbade selling grain until it hardens, selling grapes until they turn black, and selling fruit until it ripens.'" End of the quotation.Zahw in dates means that they turn red or yellow, which is a sign of their ripeness and evidence that they are free from blight.His statement, "concerning ears of grain until they turn white," apparently refers to selling the grain within the ear once it has hardened and turned white. This is the view held by the majority of scholars, Abu Hanifa, Malik, and the people of Madinah and Kufa, while Shafii prohibited it on the grounds of gharar and uncertainty.However, Ibn Turkmani reported from Shafii that when this addition reached him, he retracted his position, since in his view analogical reasoning is not permissible when a hadith exists.