Anmudhaj (a sample shown in place of an absent or heaped good, and its rules in sale)

Anmudhaj is lexically a sample showing the quality of a thing, such as a man who shows another a measure of wheat from a heap and sells the heap as of the same kind. It is also called namudhaj and is a loan-word. ¹

• Barnamij: a register of the goods in a bale; for the Malikis, a book setting out the clothes for sale. ¹
• Raqm: a mark showing a price; the Hanafis take it as a mark showing the amount of the sale, and the Hanbalis as the price written on the cloth. ¹

• The Hanafis require knowledge of the goods that removes uncertainty. A present good may be pointed at. For an absent good known by measure or weight, a sample is as good as the whole; if the goods differ, the buyer has an option for defect or for a lost quality. For goods not known by sample, such as cloth or animals, all their attributes must be stated, and the buyer has an option to view them. ²
• The Shafi'is hold that seeing a sample suffices for goods of uniform parts such as grain. If a seller says "I sell you this kind for so much" without fixing the object, the sale is void. ²
• The Hanbalis hold that a sale by sample is not valid unless the goods were seen at the contract and matched the sample. ²