and whether the sale occurred before the appearance of ripeness or after, the hadith applies generally, reinforced by the Prophet’s ﷺ words, “How can you take your brother’s wealth without right?”

If the loss is slight and cannot be precisely measured, it falls to the purchaser and the seller is not held liable, because customary practice treats such loss as ordinary, it is not called a calamity (jā’iḥah), and it is impossible to guard against—for example, when birds peck at the fruit or some drops to the ground. Some scholars have suggested a threshold of less than one-third, yet the stronger view is that no fixed proportion is stipulated; the matter returns to local usage, for any fixed limit would require explicit evidence.

The scholars—may Allah have mercy on them—explained that the seller bears the loss of a calamity because “taking possession” by mere relinquishment while the fruit is still on the tree is incomplete; it is as though the buyer has not yet taken delivery at all.

This discussion concerns loss caused by a heavenly disaster. If, however, the destruction results from human action, such as a fire, the purchaser then has a choice: either annul the sale and demand back from the seller the price he paid—after which the seller may turn against the perpetrator to claim compensation for what he destroyed—or confirm the sale and claim from the perpetrator a replacement for the damaged fruit.

The sign of ripeness (badw al-ṣalāḥ) in trees other than date-palms—that is, the indicator on which the Prophet ﷺ made the permissibility of selling depend—differs with each type of tree. In grapes, ripeness is recognized when the clusters are fully formed and sweet, for Anas reported, “The Prophet forbade…"