Istisna’a is a special case of salam and both involve the future delivery of a specified object. Istisna’a is mainly used in the fields of manufacturing (both small scale and large scale), construction, Build, Operate and Transfer (BOT), etc. However, salam is mostly confined to the trading of commodities, particularly those that require from the seller (al-muslam ileihi) no additions or alterations.
In this sense, salam and istisna’a have a number of similarities and dissimilarities, including:
| Aspect | Salam | Istisna’a | Remarks |
| 1. Underlying asset | Commodity | Manufactured object | The underlying is known by specification, with deferred delivery |
| 2. Price | Paid in advance | May be paid in advance or in installments, or deferred to a future date | Istisna’a is more flexible in terms of payment |
| 3. Contract bindingness | Binding/ lazim | Binding/ lazim | Salam is binding in essence. Istisna’a is made binding based on maslaha |
| Offsetting/ paralleling | Parallel salam | Parallel istisna’a | Provided that the two contracts are not connected. The same applies to parties’ liabilities and rights |
