Buying grapes before they ripen to get the vine leaves

A question on buying grapes before they ripen, or before they have formed, in order to get the vine leaves, in which Jordan's General Iftaa Department answered that selling unripe fruit is valid on condition of cutting it and its being usable, invalid before it forms, and that the leaves are not included unless the contract names them. ¹

The questioner said some people buy grapes before they ripen, and sometimes before they form, in order to get the vine leaves along with them, and asked whether this transaction is valid. ¹

The Department answered that selling fruit on the tree before it ripens is valid only on condition that it is cut at once and has some use, quoting al-Khatib al-Shirbini's al-Iqna', and that selling fruit before it has formed is never valid, being the sale of something non-existent and uncertain, quoting al-Nawawi's al-Majmu'. ¹ It said that where such a sale is valid the buyer owns only the fruit and may not take the leaves or branches unless the contract covers them, though he may buy fruit and leaves together. ¹ It said usable leaves are like fruit, sold only once ripe or before that on condition of cutting and usability, citing al-Shirbini, al-Ruyani and Zakariyya al-Ansari on mulberry leaves, and noting that vine leaves are customarily used just as mulberry leaves are. ¹ It concluded that unripe grapes (hisrim) may be sold on condition of cutting, that their leaves may not be taken along with them unless both are contracted for, and that the leaves may be sold alone, observing the rule of ripeness, their unfolding, or a condition of cutting. ¹

Jordan's General Iftaa Department published this fatwa on aliftaa.jo as no. 3831, dated 19 November 2023. ¹ The museum records this text as a historical document attributed to the body or scholar that issued it; it issues no ruling of its own.