Deferred payment and sale on credit (nasa')

النَّسَاء (البيع إلى أجل)

Nasi'a, in the lexicon, is delay; in law it is the deferral of the price or of the goods, the opposite of cash payment (naqd). All agree that deferral is forbidden in exchanges where the two sides may not differ in amount, citing the saying 'like for like, hand to hand'; where the goods are of two kinds, the difference is allowed hand to hand but deferral is not; deferral between goods of one kind or one shared ribawi cause is forbidden without dispute; salam is allowed as a concession. For a partner, an agent or a profit-sharing manager selling on credit, the Shafi'is and Hanbalis forbid it without permission, and where permission is general they differ; the Hanafis allow it on a customary term. The entry also gives the Hanbali distinctions between an agent and a profit-sharing partner, and the rule on a sale that stands if the terms are changed for the better. ^{1 2 3 4 5}