Sukuk al-salam (singular: salam sakk) are certificates of equal value (sukuk) which are issued in order to raise salam capital. The underlying goods to be delivered on the basis of salam contract will be owned by the certificate holders. These sukuk are issued by the seller of salam goods, and are subscribed by the buyers of those goods. The subscription proceeds provide the funds needed to pay the cost of the salam product. After subscription, the sukuk holders will be the actual owners of the underlying product, and as such are entitled to receive the sale price of their sukuk, or the sale price of the underlying goods sold on the basis of a parallel salam, if the original contract is offset.

In principle, it is not permissible to trade in sukuk al-salam as the underlying is in the form of debt (dain). In other words, the disposal of salam’s underlying goods before taking possession thereof is prohibited by shari’a. As such, trading sukuk al-salam in secondary markets is impermissible based on the opinions of the majority of fuqaha (prominent shari’a scholars- jumhur al-fuqaha). However, Maliki (those of Maliki school of thought) allowed the selling of salam’s underlying goods provided that the sale price is not higher than the purchase price.