The second argument is that they analogize every condition contrary to the legal effect of a contract to the stipulation concerning patronage, because the operative cause in the latter is that it conflicts with what the contract entails. This is because contracts produce their legal consequences by force of the Sacred Law; altering those consequences is therefore regarded as altering what the Sacred Law has prescribed, just as with altering acts of worship. This is the crux of the rule: contracts are prescribed in a particular manner, so stipulating something contrary to what they entail amounts to altering what has been prescribed.

For this reason, Abū Hanīfa, Mālik, and al-Shāfi‘ī—according to one of his two positions—did not permit anyone to introduce into an act of worship a condition contrary to what that act entails. Thus, they did not permit a pilgrim in ihram to stipulate that an excuse would allow him to leave ihram. In this they followed Abd Allah ibn Umar, who opposed making such a stipulation in Hajj and would say, “Is the Sunnah of your Prophet not sufficient for you?”

They cited in support of this principle the words of Allah Most High: “Today I have perfected your religion for you” [al-Mā’idah: 3] [al-Mā’idah: 3], and His words: “Whoever transgresses the limits of Allah—it is they who are the wrongdoers” [al-Baqara: 229] [al-Baqara: 229].

They said: Conditions and contracts that have not been prescribed constitute a transgression of Allah’s limits and an addition to the religion.

Regarding those conditions which they invalidated even though the revealed texts indicate their permissibility, either generally or specifically, they said, “That has been abrogated”—as some of them said concerning the conditions agreed upon by the Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—with the polytheists in the year of al-Hudaybiyya. Alternatively, they said, “This text is general or unrestricted, and is therefore qualified by the condition stated in Allah’s Book.”

They also invoked a hadith narrated as part of an account concerning Abū Hanīfa, Ibn Abī Laylā, and Sharīk: “The Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—forbade a sale coupled with a condition.” It has been cited by