In principle, selling things that do not exist or are not in possession at the moment is prohibited.

However, to facilitate the business and consumer needs of pre-order goods, Shariah has prescribed al-Salam or al-Salaf contract (advance payment sale) with stipulated conditions to mitigate the Shariah issues of riba and gharar (excessive uncertainty or ambiguity).

These conditions include, but are not limited to: (1) goods must not be ribawi items; (2) goods quality and details must be precisely defined, (2) mode and date of delivery must be clear between contracting parties.

This is in line with the Prophet’s (ﷺ) saying:“Whoever pays in advance the price of a thing to be delivered later should pay it for a specified measure at specified weight for a specified period” (Sahih al-Bukhari, 2240)