Section
If they stipulate that so-and-so shall shoot first for this team (1) and so-and-so shall shoot first for the other team, and then that so-and-so shall shoot second for this side (2) and so-and-so second for the other, our Shāfiʿī colleagues maintain that such a condition is invalid.

They argue that deciding who leads off in each team lies solely with that team’s captain; the opposing side has no share in that choice. Therefore, if the competitors insert it as a condition (3), it is void.

I say: the condition can plausibly be judged sound. Just as appointing the two captains was the result of both sides’ agreeing to make it a stipulation, so too naming those who will begin (4) may legitimately follow from the teams’ joint agreement. There is no injustice or corruption in this, and they may have a valid interest in it; it should not be denied them without cause.

As for their objection that “the other side has no share in the captain’s choice of whom he advances,” the answer is that the right to advance a given shooter arose through the two teams’ joint stipulation and their consent to it. The default regarding conditions is validity, except where a condition contravenes the ruling of Allah and His Messenger ﷺ.