and similar contracts. Ahmad also permits a person, in every type of contract, to reserve part of the usufruct of property passing out of his ownership and to stipulate something beyond the contract’s default legal effect. Thus, whenever a contract has a default legal effect, he permits it to be increased or reduced by stipulation, provided that this does not entail contravening the Sacred Law, as I shall explain, Allah willing.

He therefore permits a seller to reserve part of the usufruct of the property sold—such as the services of a slave, the right to reside in a house, and the like—when that usufruct may lawfully be retained while ownership belongs to another. This follows the hadith of Jābir, who sold his camel to the Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—but reserved the right to ride it as far as Medina.

He also permits a person emancipating a slave to retain the slave’s services for the lifetime of the slave, the master, or another person. This follows the hadith of Safīna: when Umm Salama emancipated him, she stipulated that he serve the Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—for as long as he lived.

According to the generality of Ahmad’s opinions, he also permits a man to emancipate his female slave and make her emancipation her dower, as related in the hadith of Safiyya and as Anas ibn Mālik and others did, even if the woman does not consent. It is as though he emancipates her while reserving the right to sexual relations with her, though he reserves that right through marriage, since retaining it without marriage is impermissible, unlike retaining the right to her services.

He also permits the founder of an endowment to reserve for himself all its usufruct and yield throughout his lifetime. It is reported that the Companions did this, and a disconnected hadith concerning it has also been attributed to the Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace. As to whether a person may establish an endowment for his own benefit, there are two reports from Ahmad.