al-Turtushi said, “In the judgment of most scholars it is not lawful.” He added, “The same conclusion follows from the view of Malik: if both contenders put up the stake and no one else joins them, then, without dissent in his school, it is impermissible.
If a third rider enters as a muhallil, Malik has two reported opinions:
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Prohibition, exactly as though no muhallil were present, and this is the opinion most commonly attributed to him. Ibn ʿAbd al-Barr relates that Malik said, “We do not adopt the statement of Saʿid ibn al-Musayyab concerning the muhallil, nor is a muhallil required for horse racing.” Ibn Shas (1) affirmed, “This is his well-known stance.”
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Permission when a muhallil is present, in agreement with Saʿid ibn al-Musayyab. Abu ʿUmar remarked, “This is the stronger of Malik’s two positions, and it is the view of Ibn al-Musayyab, the majority of scholars, and was chosen by Ibn al-Mawwaz and others (2).”
Section
The rationale for this view is that under no circumstances does the stake revert to the one who furnished it. Were it to return to him when he happened to win, the arrangement would no longer be a jiʿālah (reward contract), for no one pays a reward from his own wealth for work he himself performs. If the contestant were to come in first and still recover his own stake, he would in effect be giving himself a reward from his own property for an act he himself accomplished—and that is not