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Case file

Bai Salam

Wikipedia's first sentence called it “contract in which advance payment is made for goods to be delivered at a future date”. Today it says “islamic contract in which full payment is made in advance for specific goods”.
Measured, not asserted. Every count, date and revision on this page was taken from Wikipedia's own history and checked against the live article. The words quoted are theirs.
Machine-checked against the full current article on 2026-08-03.
We saved snapshots of this article over twenty years; you are reading the 2025 one. Red dashes: removed from Wikipedia since. Pale dots: rewritten; the numbered note shows what it says now. 1 tap a number or a side note to jump between them
The opening as it read in 2025

Type of Islamic contract Funds transfer Cheque Card Electronic Bill payment Instant payment Mobile Wire RTGS NS Direct debit ACH Giro SWIFT Correspondent account CLS CIPS SPFS BRICS PAY Terms Related topics Asset pricing Bond (finance) Capital structure Corporate finance Cost of capital Equity (finance) Ethical banking Exchange-traded fund Financial law market participants regulation risk system History of banking List of banks Market risk Personal finance Public finance Security (finance) Shares Sustainable Development Goals Systematic risk Systemic risk Time value of money Too big to fail Too connected to fail Watered stock Category Commons Portal v t e Bai Salam (Arabic بيع سلم, more accurately transliterated as Bai us Salami ) is an Islamic contract in which full payment is made in advance for specific goods (often agricultural products) to be delivered at a future date. It is necessary that the quality of the commodity intended to be purchased is fully specified leaving no ambiguity leading to dispute. Bai salam covers almost every thing which is capable of being definitely described as to quality, quantity and workmanship. It is one of the most popular Islamic Modes of finance used by banks in Islamic countries to promote riba -free transactions. Early and contemporary jurists agree on the legitimacy of Salam. In general under Shariah law, no sale is lawful unless the goods being sold are in existence at the time of the agreement. Salam sale is an exception found in the hadith of the prophet of Islam Muhammad (collections of his sayings and teachings) provided the goods are defined and the date of delivery is fixed. Upon migration from Makkah, Mohammed came to Madinah, where the people used to pay in advance the price of fruit or dates to be delivered over one, two or three years. However, such sale was carried out without specifying the quality, measure or weight of the commodity or the time of delivery. Mohammed ordained: “Whoever pays money in advance for fruit to be delivered later should pay it for a known quality, specified measure and weight (of dates or fruit) of course along with the price and time of delivery”. In Islam, Sirajul ; Jamal, Ahmed A. Banglapedia: National Encyclopedia of Bangladesh (Second ed.). Asiatic Society of Bangladesh .

This is Wikipedia's own text, saved in our repository. Their copy of it is revision 1263676012.
Today
Wikipedia's first sentence called it “contract in which advance payment is made for goods to be delivered at a future date”. Today it says “islamic contract in which full payment is made in advance for specific goods”. Read the current article and compare.
20152020Oct '232025
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What Wikipedia says this is

Every article opens by defining its subject. This one was redefined since 2015, and today's defining sentence is their current revision.

Then

contract in which advance payment is made for goods to be delivered at a future date

Now

islamic contract in which full payment is made in advance for specific goods

Struck red text is no longer in the article; dotted amber text was rewritten. Every revision id links to Wikipedia's copy; the text shown is our own saved copy. Data: /data. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA; quoted for the record; not affiliated with Wikipedia.

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