He said that God's Messenger once came upon a heap of grain, and when he put his hand into it his fingers felt some dampness, so he asked the owner of the grain how that came about. On being told that rain had fallen on it he said, "Why did you not put the damp part on the top of the grain so that people might see it? He who deceives has nothing to do with me."
Anas said that God's Messenger forbade the sale of grapes till they became black and the sale of grain till it had become hard. Thus Tirmidhi and Abu Dawud transmitted it from Anas. The addition which is in al-Masabih, viz., his saying that he forbade the sale of dates till they became ripe, occurs only in their version from Ibn ‘Umar who said that he forbade the sale of palm-trees till the fruit was ripe.
