A khiyar (option) that comes into effect when the buyer, in a trust sale (ba’i al-amana) finds out that the seller betrayed him as to the price or a contract condition. Amana sales include murabaha (cost-plus sale), ba’i al-hateeta (below-cost sale), ba’i al-tawliya (at-cost sale), etc. This option could also be attached to contracts of partnership (sharika) where each partner is under obligation to be honest and transparent with and towards other partners, and expects the same treatment from them.
If the buyer comes to know that the seller’s statement regarding the price or any contract condition is false by proof or direct/ indirect confession, then the buyer has, according to Hanbalis and Malikis, the option of accepting the object of sale at the misrepresented price or returning it due to the lack of consent. Other fuqaha (the majority of Shafi’is and Hanbalis didn’t ascribe an option to this case. However, they were of the opinion that the buyer has the right to adjust the price downside to compensate for the seller’s misrepresentation.
Khiyar al-khiyana is an Arabic term that translates into breach of trust option, treachery option, or betrayal option.
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