An exchange of two counter-values (badalain) such as price for commodity (ba’i), currency for currency (sarf), price for usufruct (ijara), or commodity for commodity (muqayada). Al-mubadala involves also the exchange of commodity for price (salam). In this sense, al-mubadala has the same meaning as al-mutajara. For example, al-murabaha is a type of al-mubadala as it is based on the exchange of price (thaman) for commodity.

Al-mubadala may also refer to an unqualified transfer of ownership.

Al-mubadala is an Arabic term (المبادلة) that translates as “swap” or “swapping”.