Assessing the Validity of Transactions Involving Underselling (Taṭfīf)

Document Type : Original Article

Author

Gholamreza Yazdani

Associate Professor, Department of Law, Razavi University of Islamic Sciences, Mashhad, Iran

10.22067/jfiqh.2024.87197.1755

Abstract

Taṭfīf (underselling) is a sharʿī prohibition and causes the invalidity of a transaction. However, doubt arises regarding the validity of a contract in which the quantity is specified but one party delivers less than the stipulated amount due to underselling at the time of delivery. Some scholars consider such a transaction valid and hold the underseller liable for the deficient amount, while others contend that although the transaction is valid, the injured party is entitled to the option of partial rescission (khiyār-i tabʿīż-i ṣafqi). Still others draw a distinction between transactions involving usurious commodities (amvāl-i ribavī) and non-usurious commodities.
Using a descriptive–analytical method, the present study concludes that where the subject matter of the transaction is a generic obligation, underselling does not render the contract void, though the underseller remains liable for the shortfall. Where the subject matter is a specific object, if the stipulated quantity constitutes a contractual consideration, then the contract is void in case the subject matter is a usurious commodity. Otherwise, it is valid, but the injured party acquires the option for breach of condition (khiyār-i takhalluf-i sharṭ). If the commodity is non-usurious, the transaction is valid in all cases, and the injured party acquires the option for breach of condition or description (khiyār-i takhalluf-i sharṭ yā vaṣf), unless the quantity has been treated as a basis for distributing the price over the subject matter, in which case the contract is valid with respect to the existing amount and void with respect to the deficiency.

Keywords

taṭfīf

underselling

diminution in measure and weight

price deficiency

Subjects

• Civil jurisprudence

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