may Allah bless him and grant him peace—to Zuhayr Abū Surad, the spokesman of Hawāzin: “Whatever belongs to me and to the descendants of ʿAbd al-Muttalib is yours.” Thus, he gave them something without having ascertained either its proportion or its amount. Nor is there any disagreement that the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) said: “Whatever I leave after providing for my wives and covering my administrator’s expenses is charity.” Its actual amount is unknown, since the maintenance of his wives may increase or decrease, as may his administrator’s expenses: they may be greater one year and smaller another. This concerned the properties of Fadak, Khaybar, and Banū al-Nadīr.
A group of scholars, including Ahmad ibn Hanbal and Abū Thawr, held that gifts and charitable donations are valid and binding upon verbal declaration, requiring no taking of possession, just like a sale. They interpreted the report of Abū Bakr concerning ʿĀʾishah as meaning that the gift was not clearly specified, and that this was why Abū Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) revoked it—not because she had failed to take possession of it. For he said: “I gave you a date harvest of twenty wasqs.” If a man sold a harvest of twenty wasqs from date palms he owned, the sale would not be valid, because its subject matter is unspecified.
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There are thus four opinions on this question:
The first is the view just mentioned: a gift becomes binding and complete upon verbal declaration and requires no taking of possession, just like a sale.
The second is the view of Mālik and those who followed him: it is constituted and becomes binding upon verbal declaration, but is completed only by taking possession.
The third is that it is constituted by verbal declaration but does not thereby become binding; rather, it becomes binding only upon receipt and taking possession. This is the position of the Iraqi scholars. The preceding discussion demonstrating the weakness of this position and the correctness of Mālik’s view suffices, without any need to refute it here.
The fourth distinguishes between gifts and charitable donations, as we have related.
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According to Mālik’s school, gifts differ from charitable donations in only two respects: