These are the two hadiths in question:
Narrated Abu Bakra: Allah’s Messenger (ﷺ) said, “Don’t sell gold for gold unless equal in weight, nor silver for silver unless equal in weight, but you could sell gold for silver or silver for gold as you like.” (Bukhari 2175)
Narrated `Abdur-Rahman bin Abu Bakra: that his father said, “The Prophet (ﷺ) forbade the selling of gold for gold and silver for silver except if they are equivalent in weight, and allowed us to sell gold for silver and vice versa as we wished.” (Bukhari 2182)
Ubida b. al-Simit (Allah be pleased with him) reported Allah’s Messenger (ﷺ) as saying: Gold is to be paid for by gold, silver by silver, wheat by wheat, barley by barley, dates by dates, and salt by salt, like for like and equal for equal, payment being made hand to hand. If these classes differ, then sell as you wish if payment is made hand to hand. (Sahih Muslim 1587c)
Reconciliation
Translation: His statement: “Chapter: Selling gold for silver hand to hand”—he mentioned within it the hadith of Abu Bakrah, which was already mentioned three chapters earlier (hadith 2175), though that narration does not explicitly include the condition of immediate exchange (ḥulūl). It seems that Imam Al-Bukhari pointed to a version of the hadith where this condition is stated.
Indeed, Muslim narrated it (1590) from Abu al-Rabiʿ, from ʿUbadah—the same transmitter through whom al-Bukhari also narrated—and in that version, a man asked: “Hand to hand?” and he replied: “This is how I heard it.”
Muslim also narrated it (1590) through Yahya ibn Abi Kathir from Yahya ibn Abi Ishaq, but without the wording. Abu ʿAwanah, in his Mustakhraj (5404), gave the wording at the end of it: “And silver for gold, however you wish, so long as it is hand to hand.”
The requirement of immediate possession (qabḍ) in currency exchange (ṣarf) is agreed upon. The only area of disagreement is about excess (tafāḍul) between items of the same type (e.g., gold for gold).
This hadith is used as evidence that one may sell different kinds of ribawi items (those subject to rules of riba), as long as the transaction is hand to hand. Even clearer than this is the hadith of ʿUbadah ibn al-Samit, reported by Muslim (1587), where the Prophet ﷺ said:
“If the types differ, then sell as you wish, so long as it is hand to hand.”
Fath Al Bari By Ibn Hajar (7/191)
