A general shari’a maxim that all commercial and financial activities are originally permissible by the primary sources of shari’a, unless proved to be otherwise. For instance, shari’a does not forbid any type of sales (ba’i) insofar as it constitutes no violation to the principles and rules of fiqh al-mu’amalat. The term “al-ibaha al-asliya” derives from the rule stating that “al-asl fi al-mua’malat al-ibaha” (i.e., in essence, all types of economic transactions are considered permissible).
Al-ibaha al-asliya is one type of al-ibaha as fuqaha usually divide al-ibaha into al-ibaha al-asliya and al-ibaha al-shar’iyya. The former is one for which there is no definitive “prohibiting” text (nass) in the primary sources of Islamic law. The latter arises due to some emerging circumstances that render an impermissible thing or act permissible, subject to specific stipulations.
Al-ibaha al-asliya is Arabic (الإباحة الأصلية) for presumed permissibility, basic permissibility, or original permissibility.
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