A man suffered a loss during the time of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ in some fruit he had purchased, and his debts grew large. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, "Give him charity."So the people gave him charity, but it did not amount to enough to settle his debts. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ then said to his creditors, "Take what you find, for you are entitled to nothing more than that."
أصيب رجل في عهد رسول الله ﷺ في ثمار ابتاعها، فكثر دينه، فقال رسول الله ﷺ: تصدقوا عليه فتصدق الناس عليه، فلم يبلغ ذلك وفاء دينه، فقال رسول الله ﷺ لغرمائه: خذوا ما وجدتم، وليس لكم إلا ذلك.
Muslim narrated it in the Book of Musaqah (1556), from Qutayba bin Saeed, who said, Layth reported to us, from Bukayr, from Iyad bin Abdullah, from Abu Saeed Khudri, and he related it as mentioned.Perhaps he bought the fruit before its ripeness had appeared, and then a calamity struck it. Ahmad bin Hanbal, Abu Ubayd, and a group of the scholars of hadith took these hadiths as their basis, and said, waiving the loss for a calamity is binding upon the sale.Khattabi said, "His command to waive losses from calamities, according to most jurists, is a command of recommendation and encouragement following the path of kindness and generosity, not one of obligation and binding necessity."He also said, "Those who interpreted the hadith as meaning recommendation and encouragement rather than obligation argued that this matter arose after the buyer's ownership over the fruit had already been established, for if he had wished to sell it or give it away, that would have been valid on his part regarding it. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ forbade "profiting from what one has not guaranteed," so if selling it is valid, this establishes that it is under his liability. And the Messenger of Allah ﷺ forbade selling fruit before its ripeness has appeared, for if the calamity occurring after the ripeness had appeared were to be borne by the seller, this prohibition would serve no purpose." End of quote.