by way of sale, lease, loan, or otherwise, then they bear no liability, because he himself placed his property at their disposal. But if they themselves commit a transgression, they are liable: they must pay compensation for bodily injury and compensate for the property of one who did not hand it over to them.

His statement, “if a minor completes fifteen years”: khamsa ʿashara (“fifteen”) is pronounced with both endings in the accusative form, because it is indeclinable in that form. All compound numbers, apart from twelve, are indeclinable in this way: thirteen years, fourteen years, fifteen, sixteen, seventeen, eighteen, nineteen, as well as eleven in both its masculine and feminine forms. That is, both parts take the accusative ending. As for twelve, its form changes according to grammatical case. Thus one says, “Twelve men came to me,” and, “I honored twelve men.”

“Or coarse hair grows around his private parts, or he ejaculates; or an insane person regains his reason and sound judgment; or a foolish person acquires sound judgment—their legal restriction is lifted without a judicial ruling. A girl additionally reaches puberty through menstruation, and if she becomes pregnant, she is deemed to have reached puberty. The restriction is not lifted before its conditions are fulfilled.”

His statement, “or coarse hair grows around his private parts, or he ejaculates”: these are three matters by which puberty is attained. The first is that, once he completes fifteen years, he has reached puberty. The evidence for this is the hadith of Abdullah ibn Umar, may Allah be pleased with him, who said: “I was presented to the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, on the day of Uhud when I was fourteen years old, and he did not permit me.”

In an authentic narration recorded by al-Bayhaqi and Ibn Hibban: “He did not consider me to have reached puberty” (1). “And I was presented to him on the day of al-Khandaq when I was fifteen years old, so he permitted me and considered me to have reached puberty” (2). The point of evidence is his statement, “and considered me to have reached puberty,” because if we were to confine ourselves to the first narration, the narration of al-Bukhari, someone might object and say: