the purchaser, because it involves clearing his property of another person’s ownership, so he is responsible for it. However, if the purchaser stipulates that the seller is to undertake this, the condition is valid. Thus, if the purchaser says, “I bought the fruit of these date palms from you, but I do not have anyone to cut it. So, farmer, cut it for me and bring it to me,” and the seller says, “No problem,” then the cutting is the seller’s responsibility by virtue of the condition. This condition entails neither uncertainty, excessive risk, injustice, nor usury. The basic rule concerning conditions is that they are permissible and valid, except where evidence establishes their prohibition. Moreover, at most it amounts to combining the sale with something for which a hiring contract may validly be concluded. This is permissible, and there is no objection to it.
His statement, “But if he sells it without qualification”: the pronoun refers to that whose sale was previously deemed prohibited; that is, if he sells it without qualification. The scholars state that the meaning of an unqualified sale is understood in light of a prior or subsequent stipulation; in other words, he sells it without stipulating that it be cut. That is, he sells the fruit before its ripeness has become apparent, without stipulating either that it be cut or that it remain.
His statement, “or stipulates that it remain”: the sale is invalid, because there are only three possible scenarios:
Either he sells it on the condition that it be cut immediately, or on the condition that it remain, or he says nothing and stipulates neither that it remain nor that it be cut.
In the first case, the sale is valid, provided that it can be put to use; otherwise, the sale becomes unlawful because it entails wasting property.
In the second and third cases, the sale is invalid.
An example is a man who comes to a farmer who has a date palm bearing fruit whose ripeness has not yet become apparent. He says, “Sell me this fruit,” and the farmer sells it to him. The purchaser then stipulates that it remain until it ripens. This is invalid, because the Prophet ﷺ