and if they have destroyed it, no compensation can be claimed for it. They are, however, liable for the indemnity payable for any injury they cause and for whatever they damage that was not handed over to them.

A male minor is deemed to have reached puberty when he completes fifteen lunar years, experiences seminal emission, or coarse hair grows around his pubic region; a female attains it upon the onset of menstruation.

Even then, his property is not delivered to him until sound judgment (rushd) is observed. Sound judgment means that he safeguards his wealth, is not habitually cheated in his transactions, and does not squander his money on what is unlawful or useless. He should be tested before puberty in ways appropriate to him; when both his puberty and sound judgment are established, his estate is released to him without a court order, and never before that under any circumstance.

During the period of interdiction, guardianship belongs first to the father, then to the executor he appointed, and finally to the judge. The guardian may act only in what is most beneficial, and he may invest the ward’s capital in a muḍāraba (profit-sharing partnership) for a stipulated share of the profit.

If the guardian is poor, he may take from the ward’s property—free of charge—the lesser of what suffices him or the normal wage for such guardianship; if he is well-off, he may take only what the judge (1) stipulates.

Once the ward has attained sound judgment, the guardian’s word is accepted regarding the amount of appropriate maintenance he expended, any loss incurred, the advantage (ghibṭa) or necessity that led him to sell real estate, and likewise that he has already delivered the property to the ward if he did so gratuitously.

Any debt a slave contracts with his master’s permission is borne by the master; without such permission it attaches to the slave himself, just like the indemnity for any injury he causes or property he destroys. None of his transactions is valid without his master’s authorization; if the master authorizes him, they are valid, even if the slave is merely discerning and has not reached adulthood.