he has harvested, sold, or eaten it. He must replace the quantity by measure if he knows it; otherwise, he must pay its value. If he sold it and it is no longer recoverable, he must pay the price for which he sold it. If it remains in the purchaser’s possession, the rightful claimant may either take it or uphold the sale and take the price. If it has perished in the purchaser’s possession, he is entitled only to the price. This follows the opinion that the fruit does not become yield belonging to the purchaser until it has dried or been harvested. According to the opinion that it becomes his yield upon ripening, however, the rightful claimant has no right to it if it ripened while still with the seller, since it had already become yield belonging to the seller upon ripening. The rightful claimant takes only the palm trees, and the person from whom they are recovered reclaims from the seller the portion of the price attributable to them. The portion attributable to the fruit is deducted from his claim, since the fruit remains in his possession—unless he purchased the trees from a usurper or, according to Ibn al-Qāsim’s position, from a purchaser who had bought them after pollination. There are thus three opinions:

The first concerns someone who purchased the trees before pollination.

The second concerns someone who purchased them together with their fruit after pollination.

The third concerns someone who purchased them together with their fruit after the fruit had coloured and ripened. These have already been discussed.

Section

If the purchaser finds the fruit after pollination but before ripening, and someone then successfully claims ownership of the underlying property, the following distinctions apply. If he purchased the trees before pollination, the fruit is his yield, and he reclaims the entire price from the seller. If he purchased them after pollination, the ruling follows the disagreement between Ibn al-Qāsim and Ashhab concerning defects. According to Ibn al-Qāsim, the fruit belongs to the rightful claimant if it remains in the purchaser’s possession and is still recoverable; if it is no longer recoverable, the purchaser must compensate him with its estimated quantity by measure. According to Ashhab, it is yield belonging to the purchaser. If, however, the purchaser harvested it before pollination, the rightful claimant has no entitlement to it, by agreement. A further distinction must then be made: if he purchased the trees while they bore fruit, the seller deducts the portion of the price attributable to that fruit;