A Section
Certain conditions are required for the validity of the Friday Prayer; the ruler’s authorization is not among them …
His statement: “Certain conditions are required for its validity.”
Conditions is the plural of condition, which linguistically means a sign.
In the Sharia, it is that upon which something depends. If it is a condition for obligation, then obligation depends upon it; if it is a condition for validity, then validity depends upon it; and if it is a condition for sufficiency, then sufficiency depends upon it. These are three types, all of which are found among the conditions of Hajj.
Here, you must understand the difference between conditions pertaining to a matter and stipulations made within a matter. Among the differences are the following:
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Conditions pertaining to a matter are established by the Sharia, so no one may waive them. Stipulations made within a matter, however, are laid down by an individual, and the person entitled to them may waive them.
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Conditions pertaining to a matter are those upon which the matter depends—whether for its validity, obligation, sufficiency, or, in rational matters, its very existence. Stipulations made within a matter are those upon which its binding nature depends.
An example is knowledge of the item being sold, which is a condition for validity. If someone sells an unknown item, the sale is invalid, even if both parties consent, because this condition has been established by the Sharia.
Another example: a person sells a house and stipulates that he may live in it for one year. This is a stipulation within the sale: the one for whose benefit the stipulation was made may waive it. If the seller had not stipulated the right to reside in the house, he would have no established right to live there. It is only established through human stipulation, and the one entitled to it may waive it.