that the ripening of part of the fruit counts as ripening for that tree and for the rest of the same variety in the orchard. This is one of the two views in the school of Imam Ahmad: if ripening appears on one tree, it counts as ripening for that tree and for the rest of the same variety in the orchard.

According to the authoritative position of the school, however, if the entire variety is sold together, then the ripening of part of one tree counts as ripening for the whole variety. This is because, when all of it is sold together, it is as though it were a single palm tree; and the ripening of part of a palm tree counts as ripening for all of it. Thus, the contract applies to all of it. But if it is sold separately—such that you sell what has ripened, then draw up a new contract for what has not yet ripened—it is rightly said of you that you sold fruit before its ripening had appeared. The Prophet ﷺ forbade the sale of fruit until its ripening appears (1). The authoritative position of the school is sounder than what is apparent from the author’s wording.

Some scholars said that the ripening of part of one tree counts as ripening for that tree, its variety, and its genus. Thus, if a person has an orchard containing ten varieties of date palms, and ripening appears in one variety, it is permissible to sell all of them in a single transaction—both those of the same variety and those of other varieties. The authoritative position of the school, however, does not take this into consideration; rather, it considers the variety. This position is more cautious, although the other view is very strong, because the transaction is one, and the difference between varieties does not remove them from being of the same genus. Dates are a single genus, as stated in the hadith of Ubadah ibn al-Samit: “Dates for dates, equal for equal” (2). Since the Prophet ﷺ treated them as one thing, we say that if all of it is sold together, and one of them has begun to change color—