a person acts as another’s representative may be made conditional, just like agency. As for the remaining pure contracts, the basic rule is that they may not be made conditional.

The correct view, however, is that this is valid, and it is the view preferred by Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah, provided that the matter upon which it is made conditional is possible and known. By our saying “possible,” we mean possible both in terms of the Sacred Law and divine decree. This is because it serves an interest; moreover, distinguishing between one contract and another is inconsistent, unless there is clear evidence requiring such a distinction. Indeed, there is no evidence for distinguishing between a contract and its rescission, for the basic principle is that if making rescission conditional is permissible, then making a contract conditional is likewise permissible. However, they excluded two cases from this rule:

The first is making it conditional upon Allah’s will, as when one says: “I have sold you this for such-and-such—if Allah wills.” The sale is valid, because making it conditional upon Allah’s will, and then its taking effect, indicates that Allah willed it; for had Allah not willed it, it would not have taken place.

The second is an earnest-money sale, which is well known among us and is called urbūn: the purchaser gives the seller part of the price and says, “If the sale is completed, this will count as part of the price; but if it is not completed, the earnest money is yours.”

If it is said: How can you deem this valid when the seller has taken something without compensation?

The answer is, firstly: he took it by the purchaser’s choice.

Secondly: there is compensation involved, because if the commodity is returned, its value declines in people’s eyes. For example, if it is said: “This man bought this car for fifty thousand and gave him five hundred riyals as earnest money,” then he comes to the seller and says: