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This disagreement rests on five fundamental questions around which it revolves:

First: whether a price reduction for calamity damage is obligatory.
Second: the circumstances in which such a reduction is granted.
Third: the amount of loss that qualifies for a reduction and that which does not.
Fourth: what is subject to such a reduction and what is not.
Fifth: what constitutes a calamity requiring a reduction and what does not.

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The general basis for the obligation to grant a reduction for calamity damage is the report that the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, ordered such reductions, and the report that he said:

“Whoever sells fruit that is then struck by a calamity must not take any of the buyer’s money. On what grounds would any of you take his brother’s money without right?”

It is also reported that he “forbade selling fruit before it began to ripen, and said: ‘Consider: if Allah withholds the fruit, on what grounds would any of you take his brother’s money?’”

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Mālik, may Allah have mercy on him, and all his followers accepted these reports and adopted the ruling that a reduction must be granted for calamity damage. Abū Hanīfah, al-Shāfiʿī in one of his two opinions, and their respective followers disagreed. They held that once the buyer has taken possession, no reduction whatsoever is granted for calamity damage. They offered various explanations for these reports, which would take too long to recount, and supported their position with the apparent meanings of other reports that provide no evidence for their case. Among these is the report of Abū Saʿīd al-Khudrī:

“A man purchased fruit during the lifetime of the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, and suffered a loss in it, leaving him heavily indebted. The Prophet, peace be upon him, instructed that charity be given to him. People gave him charity, but there was not enough in what