that it belongs to the purchaser, there is no harm in that. But if he wishes, he may rescind the sale, because his property has now become mixed with another’s property in a manner that makes it difficult to distinguish between them. The purchaser was negligent in causing this, so it is said: the option belongs to the seller. This view is the stronger one, because this is not like selling fruit before its ripeness becomes apparent and then leaving it until it ripens. Selling fruit before its ripeness becomes apparent and leaving it until it ripens contravenes the textual evidence, whereas this case does not contravene any textual evidence.
His statement: “Or he buys that whose ripeness has become apparent, then another crop appears and the two become indistinguishable”—meaning that the sale becomes invalid. Crops may emerge successively, such that the first crop becomes mature; the same may occur with date palms, for some date palms produce twice in a year. Thus, the first blossom is sold because its ripeness has become apparent, then the second grows and becomes indistinguishable from the first. The author says that the sale becomes invalid because what is permissible has become mixed with what is forbidden in a manner that makes it impossible to distinguish between them. Avoiding what is forbidden is obligatory, and whatever is necessary to fulfil an obligation is itself obligatory. Since avoiding what is forbidden cannot be achieved except by avoiding all of it, the sale is therefore invalid.
However, if you consider this reasoning, you will find that it does not require invalidity. The right now lies between the two parties, so if they reach an agreement on something, or if the one who owns the second crop says, “It is yours; I do not want it,” then what prevents the sale from being valid?
Someone may perhaps say: What prevents its validity is that the contract covered this latter crop before it came into existence, or, if it had already come into existence, the contract covered it before its ripeness became apparent. One might say this—that is, the reason is not the mixing and indistinguishability; rather, the reason is that this new crop either