Selling olive harvests for five years ahead

A question about selling (leasing out) an olive harvest for the next five years at a price fixed in advance, in which Jordan's General Iftaa Department answered that jurists agree that selling fruit for two years or more is not permitted, because the fruit does not exist at the time of the contract. ¹

The questioner asked whether olive fruit may be sold, in the arrangement known as tadmin, for the coming five years with the price fixed in advance. ¹

The Department answered that jurists agree that fruit may not be sold for two years or more, because the fruit does not exist at the time of the contract, and the sale of something non-existent is void by text and consensus. ¹ It relied on the hadith of Jabir ibn Abd Allah, reported by Muslim, forbidding mu'awama, the sale of fruit for years ahead. ¹ It quoted al-Nawawi in al-Majmu Sharh al-Muhadhdhab that the sale of something non-existent is void by consensus, and that Ibn al-Mundhir and others reported the Muslims' consensus that selling fruit for two years or the like is void. ¹ It concluded that fruit may not be sold for two years or more. ¹

Jordan's General Iftaa Department published this fatwa on aliftaa.jo as no. 3950, dated 20 February 2025. ¹ The museum records this text as a historical document attributed to the body or scholar that issued it; it issues no ruling of its own.