Chapter: What Does and Does Not Follow the Sold Item

Certain things are deemed accessories to the main object of sale; they pass to the buyer unless the seller specifically excludes them. Among these are the following:

• If a person sells a slave or an animal, the slave’s ordinary clothing and the animal’s bridle, reins, and shoes are automatically included in the sale. Such items enter any unqualified contract because custom regards them as part of what is being sold.

• Items whose attachment to the main object is neither customary nor required—such as a slave’s personal wealth or his ornamental garments—are not included. This is based on the Prophet’s ﷺ words: “Whoever sells a slave who possesses wealth, that wealth belongs to the seller—unless the buyer stipulates otherwise,” recorded by Muslim. The hadith shows that a slave’s wealth is not transferred with him when he is sold, for the transaction concerns the slave alone and the wealth is an addition, just as if the owner had two slaves and sold only one. Furthermore, both the slave and whatever he owns belong to his master; when the master sells the slave, the wealth remains his.

• If, however, the buyer stipulates that the slave’s wealth be included in the sale, then it is included, in accordance with the Prophet’s ﷺ statement: “unless the buyer stipulates otherwise.”