Is it permissible to engage in contracts involving prohibited items or activities?
Chapter on Selling the Musarrah (Animal with milk retained in udder)
Al-Mughni
Book of Sales
Primary text
Contracts concerning anything intended for unlawful purposes are forbidden, and the contract itself is void. This includes selling weapons to people of war, bandits, or during times of civil strife (fitna). It also covers selling or renting a female slave for singing (ghena'), or renting a house for the sale of alcohol or for establishing a church or fire temple, and similar matters. This ruling is based on established principles. Imam Ahmad, may God have mercy on him, explicitly stated that a butcher or baker must not sell to someone known to buy from them for the purpose of consuming intoxicants, nor should one sell draughts (for drawing lots) to those who use them for drinking. He also forbade selling silk brocade (dibaaj) to men, though it is permissible for women, and it is narrated that he prohibited selling walnuts to children for gambling. By analogy, eggs fall under this prohibition, rendering all such sales void.
Supporting text
Regarding a specific case where a deceased person left behind a singing female slave and an orphan child requiring her sale, Imam Ahmad ruled that she must be sold as an ordinary, non-singing slave ('saathija'), even if this significantly reduces her market value (from thirty thousand dirhams to twenty dinars). This ruling is supported by a narration from Abu Umamah, from the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, stating that the sale of female singers, their prices, and their earnings are not permissible. However, this prohibition is understood to apply specifically to selling them *for the purpose* of singing. Their intrinsic value derived from purposes other than singing remains valid, analogous to how grape juice remains permissible to sell even if it can be used to make wine.