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Fatwa CenterHe bought and sold a car before receiving it
Question
Someone purchased a car and did not take possession of it. He just took a form with the car still in the name of another person, and then sold it. Was that sale permissible?
Answer
All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad, sallallaahu 'alyhi wa sallam, is His slave and Messenger.
It was not permissible for the buyer to sell the mentioned car until he actually possessed it. That is, to have inspected it by himself or by means of his agent, even if it remained with the seller. It was not sufficient to take a form instead of actually possessing the car. This approach complies with the preponderant opinion of scholars regarding this issue, namely selling a commodity that has not yet been received even if the commodity is not food. We said that this is the preponderant opinion due to the general evidence including food and other commodities.
Such evidence includes the saying of the Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam: “It is not lawful to sell anything on condition that the purchaser lends you something, and it is not lawful to sell what is not in your possession.” [Ahmad] [Abu Daawood, An-Nasaa’i, At-Tirmithi and Ibn Maajah: Authentic chain of narrators]
Also, the Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, said to Hakeem ibn Hizaam 
: “Do not sell what is not in your possession.” [Ahmad, At-Tirmithi, An-Nasaa’i, Ibn Maajah: good chain of narrators]
It was also narrated on the authority of Zayd ibn Thaabit that he said, “The Prophet of Allaah, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, forbade selling a product in the place where it was bought until the merchants have taken possession of it and moved it to their own property.” [Ahmad and Abu Daawood] [Ibn Hibbaan and Al-Haakim: Saheeh (authentic)]
However, some scholars differentiated between food and other commodities. They forbade selling food before receiving it and allowed the selling of other commodities, even if they have not been received. Nevertheless, this approach is not supported by the aforementioned evidence. In addition, receiving and taking possession of the sold object prevents injustice and ignorance that might surround the transaction and it provides the buyer with confidence, and all of this is taken into consideration by the Sharee‘ah.
Allaah Knows best.
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