or the accumulated snow-melt, which, according to the sounder opinion, is usually forthcoming. A legal impediment is treated in the same way as a physical one; hence it is invalid to hire someone to extract a healthy tooth, or to employ a menstruating woman for the service of a mosque. Likewise, on the sounder view, one may not engage a married woman for wet-nursing—or for any other task—without her husband’s permission.

In a liability ijāra it is permissible to defer the usufruct, as when one says, “I bind your liability to carry this load to Mecca at the beginning of such-and-such a month.” By contrast, a specific item may not be leased for a benefit that will only arise in the future. If, however, the owner leases the same item to its present lessee for a second year before the first year has ended, that is permissible according to the sounder opinion.

Also permissible, on the sounder opinion, is kirāʾ al-ʿaqab, which is to lease an animal to one man to ride it for part of the journey, or to two men so that one rides it on certain days and the other on other days, provided the respective portions are clearly defined and then shared between them.

Section

The usufruct must be known and defined. Sometimes it is fixed by time—such as leasing a house for one year—and sometimes by a task—such as hiring an animal to travel to Mecca, or contracting a tailor to sew a particular garment. If both are combined, as when someone is hired to sew the garment during the daylight hours, the contract is invalid on the sounder opinion.

For teaching the Quran, the wage may be set by specifying the duration or by naming particular surahs. In construction, the location, length, width, thickness, and the materials to be used must be described when the payment is linked to the task. When land is suitable for building, cultivation, or planting trees, the specific benefit must be designated. According to the sounder view, saying “for cultivation” suffices without naming the crop. If he says, “Make use of it as you wish,” the lease is valid, as it is if he says, “If you wish, plant crops; if you wish, plant trees.”

For hiring an animal for riding, the rider must be identified, either by direct sight or by a complete description; some authorities hold that description alone is insufficient. The same ruling applies to anything placed upon the animal, such as a saddle-litter, if it exists. Should the hirer stipulate, without qualification, that his baggage may also be carried, the contract is void on the sounder opinion; and if he does not stipulate it, he is not entitled to load it.

In leasing a specific animal, that very animal must be designated; whether it must actually be seen is disputed, paralleling the disagreement over the sale of an unseen item. In a liability ijāra one must state the species, type, and whether it is male or female, and in both kinds of ijāra the amount