فِقهُ التَّولِيَة — التَّولِيَةُ فِي الشَّرِيعَةِ الإِسلَامِيَّة: عَقدُ البَيعِ الَّذِي يَكشِفُ فِيهِ البَائِعُ عَن ثَمَنِ شِرَائِهِ الفِعلِيِّ وَيَبِيعُ بِنَفسِ ذَلِكَ الثَّمَن
Fiqh al-Tawliya (فِقهُ التَّولِيَة — Jurisprudence of the Cost-Price Sale; *tawliya*: from *w-l-y*: to take charge, to place in charge, to hand over; tawliya in sale = 'handing over' the goods at exactly what you paid for them — you become the buyer's equivalent in terms of price; the buyer takes over from the seller at the seller's cost; the three amanah sales — a system of price disclosure: Islamic law distinguishes between ordinary sales [where the price is negotiated without reference to what the seller paid] and *buyu' al-amanah* [trust-based sales] where the seller discloses his actual cost price and the selling price is defined in relation to that cost: [1] *murabahah* [مُرَابَحَة]: the seller discloses his cost price and adds an agreed profit margin; 'I bought this for 100 and am selling to you for 120 [profit = 20]'; the most commercially significant amanah sale [basis of modern Islamic finance products]; [2] *tawliya* [تَولِيَة]: the seller discloses his cost price and sells at exactly that price — no profit, no loss; 'I bought this for 100 and am selling to you for exactly 100'; [3] *wadi'a* [وَضِيعَة; also called muhtatta or habu'a]: the seller discloses his cost price and sells at a discount — a loss; 'I bought this for 100 and am selling to you for 80 [loss = 20]'; the classical rationale for distinguishing these from ordinary sales: in an ordinary sale, the buyer and seller negotiate without either being required to disclose the seller's cost; the price is a pure negotiation; in amanah sales, the seller explicitly invokes his cost as the reference point; this creates a disclosure obligation: if the seller makes a mistake in stating his cost [or deliberately misrepresents it], the buyer is harmed in a way that would not occur in an ordinary sale; Islamic law therefore applies strict disclosure rules to amanah sales: [a] the seller must accurately disclose the cost; [b] if the seller received a discount or rebate not yet disclosed, it must be included in the cost statement or separately disclosed; [c] if the seller made improvements to the goods, he may add the cost of improvements but must disclose them; the uses of tawliya: classical contexts: [a] among family members or close associates who want to transfer goods at cost [no profit-taking from family]; [b] as a form of commercial courtesy [e.g., a wholesaler selling to a regular customer at cost during a difficult period]; [c] in complex multi-party transactions where one party needs to route goods through an intermediate party at cost; modern Islamic finance: tawliya appears in some Islamic finance structures where a bank or financier needs to transfer an asset at cost rather than at a profit; the AAOIFI standards on murabahah discuss tawliya as an alternative to murabahah in certain scenarios; the disclosure requirements — the shariah validity condition: for any amanah sale [murabahah, tawliya, or wadi'a] to be shariah-valid, full and accurate disclosure is essential; the buyer is relying on the seller's representation of cost as the basis for the price; if that representation is false or incomplete, the buyer has grounds to rescind the contract [faskh] or demand an adjustment; the disclosure requirement distinguishes amanah sales from ordinary transactions and gives them a distinctive character in Islamic commercial law — they are contracts of trust, not just bargaining) is Islamic commercial law's most transparent pricing mechanism.
Sales That Require Honesty About Cost
Classical Islamic commercial law distinguishes between two fundamentally different pricing mechanisms. In an ordinary sale (bay’ al-musawama), the price is a pure negotiation: the buyer offers what he thinks the goods are worth, the seller asks what he thinks he can get, and they meet somewhere in the middle. Neither party is required to disclose what the seller originally paid.
In buyu’ al-amanah (trust-based sales), the seller explicitly invokes his actual cost as the reference for the price. The buyer is not negotiating from ignorance — he knows (or is told) what the goods cost the seller. The price is then defined in relation to that cost: murabahah adds a profit to it, tawliya reproduces it exactly, wadi’a discounts it.
Tawliya — resale at exactly the seller’s cost price — is the simplest of the three: “I paid 100 for this; I’m selling it to you for 100.” No profit, no loss. The seller is handing over his position, not monetizing it.
Why Disclosure Is the Core Condition
The trust-based character of amanah sales creates a distinctive risk: if the seller misrepresents his cost, the buyer is cheated in a way that would not occur in an ordinary negotiation. In an ordinary sale, the buyer knows the seller is trying to get the best price — he protects himself by negotiating. In a tawliya or murabahah, the buyer trusts the seller’s cost disclosure and does not negotiate around it. The classical requirement of full, accurate disclosure — including any discounts, rebates, or improvements to the goods — protects the buyer who has placed his trust in the seller’s representation.
Modern Applications
Tawliya appears in some Islamic finance structures where transferring assets at cost is preferable to transferring at a profit — for instance, when a bank needs to pass an asset through an intermediate structure without profit recognition at that stage, or when a family transfer at cost is desired. AAOIFI standards on murabahah discuss tawliya and wadi’a as alternatives that apply the same disclosure framework to different price points.
See also: Fiqh Al Bay Al Murabahah, Fiqh Al Aqd Wal Shurut, Fiqh Al Gharar, Fiqh Al Buyu, Fiqh Al Ijtihad Wal Taqlid