Is the sale of items lacking beneficial use permissible?
Chapter on Selling the Musarrah (Animal with milk retained in udder)
Al-Mughni
Book of Sales
Primary text
The sale of that which has no utility is impermissible. This applies to all insects and predatory beasts unsuitable for hunting, such as the lion and the wolf, as well as birds that are neither consumed nor used for hunting, such as the *rakham* (vulture), the kite, the piebald crow (*ghurab al-abqa'*), and the raven (*ghurab al-bayn*), including their eggs. The prohibition stems from the principle that taking their price amounts to wrongfully consuming wealth.