Do We Have to Weigh Items Before Selling Them?

29-7-2026 | IslamWeb

Question:

Assalamualaikum,
I have a question with regards to selling, are weighing any items mandatory in any aspect of selling? Or we can sell items without weighing them first, if we can deal with them fairly in size of the items etc.

---

Answer:

All perfect praise be to Allah, the Lord of the worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allah and that Muhammad is His slave and Messenger.

Among the conditions for the validity of a sale is that the item being sold has a known quantity and description. Al-Kāsānī, may Allaa have mercy upon him, states in Badāʾiʿ Al-Ṣanāʾiʿ, while discussing the conditions for the validity of a sale: "Among them [the conditions] is that the item sold be known, and its price be known, such that this knowledge prevents a dispute from taking place. If either of the two is unknown with an ambiguity leading to dispute, the sale is rendered invalid." (End of quote)

Accordingly, the buyer, as a general principle, must know the weight of a commodity that is customarily sold by weight — either through actual [weighing] or through estimation, as in the sale by jizāf (estimation without measuring). Jizāf refers to estimating the quantity without weighing or measuring, and it has known conditions detailed in the books of fiqh.

The quantity of the item sold may also be known through direct visual inspection, such that ambiguity and uncertainty are eliminated — in which case the sale is permissible on that basis. An example of this is the sale of small, minor items by sight, such as food and similar items which people customarily sell without measuring or weighing.

Allah knows best.