Likewise, milk in the udder may not validly be sold, because its amount is unknown. An animal may allow itself to be milked and yield milk, or it may neither yield milk nor allow itself to be milked. Some cows, when people try to milk them, resist—either by kicking with a leg, butting with a horn, or withholding their milk altogether so that they cannot be milked. Thus, it is unknown. Even if it is assumed that these impediments are absent, how much milk is there? Its amount remains unknown. The matter is simple: instead of purchasing it while it is still in the udder, wait until it has been milked; that is better and safer.
His statement, “separately”: this is a circumstantial qualifier applying to both “a fetus” and “milk.” It implies that if the fetus is sold along with its mother, and the milk along with the animal that carries it, the sale is valid, provided that neither is made the subject of a separate contract. Thus, one should not say, “I sell you this pregnant ewe and what is in her womb,” because the author stipulated that they be sold separately. This implies that if they are included as a dependent part of the sale, it is permissible. But if one says, “I sell you this pregnant animal and what is in her womb,” is this considered a separate sale?
We say: yes, because he expressly mentioned it. It is only permissible when it is included as a dependent part of the sale of the mother. The same applies to milk. The jurists derived this from the principle: “What cannot be established independently may be established as a dependent matter.”
His statement, “nor musk in its musk pod”: the musk pod is the vessel of musk that separates from the musk deer. Among deer there is a species known as the musk deer. As our teacher, Abd al-Rahman al-Sa‘di—may Allah have mercy on him—told us, these deer run, and due to the intensity of their running and exhaustion, a pouch of blood descends from their bellies. This pouch is then bound by a very strong ligature, so that the blood which supplies nourishment cannot reach it. After several days, it separates