to appoint him.” However, we have previously mentioned that, for ease of pronunciation, the final nūn may be omitted from the five verbs even without a governing particle that puts them in the subjunctive or jussive mood. An example is the Prophet’s saying, peace and blessings be upon him: “By Allah, you will not enter Paradise until you believe, and you will not believe until you love one another.” (1) Had the wording followed the original form, he would have said: “You will not enter” and “you will not believe.” As for the first occurrence of “you believe” and “you love one another,” the final nūn is omitted in accordance with the standard rule, because both verbs are in the subjunctive after the implied particle an following ḥattā (until). Thus, the final nūn may be omitted for ease of pronunciation.

His words, “or by a divider whom they appoint, or whom they ask the judge to appoint,” mean that they may choose a divider and appoint him themselves. They may go to a known divider—dividers are generally known—and say, “Come and divide this land for us; divide this house for us; divide such-and-such for us.” Or they may ask the judge himself: they go to the qadi and say, “We jointly own some land; send us a divider to divide it for us.”

If someone were to ask, “What is the evidence for this?”

We say: we have the principle that one who holds a transaction to be permissible is not required to provide evidence. Thus, whenever someone says, “This is permissible in a transaction,” we do not ask, “What is your evidence?” For this is the basic rule: with regard to transactions, foods, drinks, clothing, dwellings, and things from which benefit is derived, the basic rule is