Is it permissible to sell unripe green crops standing on the land?
Chapter on Selling Assets and Fruits
Al-Mughni
Book of Sales
Primary text
The sale of green crops while they are still standing in the land is not permissible unless the condition for immediate harvesting is stipulated. This ruling aligns with the prohibition on selling fruit still on the trees. Evidence for this is the narration by Muslim from Ibn Umar: The Prophet (peace be upon him) prohibited the sale of date palms until they flower (yuzhi) and the sale of grain until it whitens and is safe from blight. Both seller and buyer were prohibited. Ibn al-Mundhir stated that he knows of no one who deviates from this ruling. This is the position of Malik, the people of Medina, the people of Basra, the Hadith scholars, and the proponents of rational opinion (Ahl al-Ra'y).
Supporting text
If the crop is sold together with the land, the transaction is valid, similar to selling fruit along with its source tree. If the crop is sold to the owner of the land, there are two established legal opinions concerning this, mirroring the ruling on selling fruit to the owner of the tree. Abu al-Khattab stated that it is permissible. If sold to the landowner with the condition of immediate cutting, it is permissible by consensus, but the buyer is not obligated to fulfill the condition because the underlying asset (the land) belongs to him, making it analogous to selling fruit to the landowner with a condition for cutting.