18 – Book of Gifts
A gift becomes binding through offer and acceptance and is perfected when possession is taken. Thus, if the donee takes possession while the parties are still in the same session, even without the donor’s express permission, the gift is valid; but if he takes possession after they separate, it is not valid unless the donor authorises it.
A gift is effected when the donor says, “I have granted (wahabtu),” “I have bestowed (nahltu),” “I have given (aʿṭaitu),” “I have fed you this food,” “I have made this garment yours,” “I have conferred this article upon you for life,” or “I have mounted you on this animal,” provided that, by “mounting,” he intends a gift.
With respect to property that can be divided, no gift is valid unless the portion being given is isolated and physically set apart. A gift of an undivided share in property that cannot be divided, however, is permissible. If someone gives an undivided share of divisible property, the gift is invalid; but if he subsequently partitions it and hands it over, it becomes valid. If he gifts the flour contained in wheat or the oil contained in sesame seeds, the gift is void, and even after he grinds it and delivers it, it still does not become valid.
When the asset is already in the donee’s possession, he acquires ownership through the gift even though no new act of possession occurs. If a father gives a gift to his minor son, the child owns it as soon as the contract is concluded; but if a stranger gives a gift to the child, it is completed only when the father takes possession on the boy’s behalf.
If a gift is made to an orphan and his legal guardian receives it for him, it is valid; the same applies when he is under his mother’s custody and she receives it, or in the care of a non-relative who is rearing him and that person receives it. Should the minor himself take possession, the gift is valid for him.
If two people jointly give a house to one recipient, the gift is valid. If a single donor gives a house jointly to two recipients, Abu Ḥanīfa deems it invalid, whereas Abu Yūsuf and Muhammad consider it valid.
When a person gives a gift to someone who is not a close relative, he retains the right to revoke it—unless the recipient compensates him for it, the gifted item acquires an inseparable increase, one of the two contracting parties dies, or