the recipient and then gave him dried dates at harvest. It is called a sale only figuratively, in a broad sense; as an actual sale, however, it would be impermissible, since it exchanges fresh dates on the palms for dried dates on the ground. This is the most far-fetched of the views, for it amounts to an outright rejection of the hadiths permitting the sale of an ariyyah for its estimated yield and deprives them of their purpose and meaning. The validity of a fresh gift cannot be made conditional on its having originated as an ariyyah, or on its amounting to five wasqs or less. No one can reasonably maintain or believe this, since there is consensus that a fresh gift, whether small or large, is permissible without any prescribed limit or quantity. By the logic of his position, the recipient would not be permitted to sell the ariyyah back to its donor for its estimated yield once he had taken possession of it—whether by taking possession of the trees themselves or of them together with the emerging fruit—unless his position is that possession can be taken only by harvesting.
Section
An ariyyah may be granted from any kind of fruit, whether storable or not, for one year or many years, since it is a form of gift. Taking it back in return for its estimated yield at harvest, however, is permissible only for fruits that can be dried and stored, such as dates, grapes, figs, walnuts, almonds, olives, and the like. This is the well-known position within the school, recorded from Mālik in al-Mudawwanah, the book of Ibn al-Mawwāz, and al-Mabsūt. The book of Ibn al-Mawwāz also transmits from him that this is permissible only for dates and grapes. This is also al-Shāfi‘ī’s position.
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There is disagreement over the taking of possession that secures the recipient’s entitlement to an ariyyah if the donor dies. Ibn Habīb said that the recipient’s entitlement is not established if the donor dies unless the recipient had taken possession of the trees and fruit had appeared on them before the donor’s death. The scholars differed over how to interpret the relevant passage in al-Mudawwanah,