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As for sheep’s wool, if it grows while the sheep are in the buyer’s possession and he shears it, it constitutes yield belonging to him when the sheep are returned for a defect, recovered by their rightful owner, or reclaimed by the seller upon the buyer’s insolvency. In the case of an invalid sale, however, by the time the wool grows and forms a fleece, the sheep can no longer be returned, and the transaction must be settled on the basis of their assessed value. If he has not shorn the wool, it follows the sheep in all these cases. The buyer cannot recover any of his expenditure on their upkeep, unlike the case of palms. The distinction is that sheep provide other yield besides the wool sought from them.

If the buyer shears the wool after discovering the defect, his shearing constitutes acceptance of the defect. The same applies, according to Ashhab, if he purchased the sheep with fully grown fleeces already on them, because he regards the wool as an accessory to the sheep, included in the sale without express stipulation. His precedent is the purchase of palms with their fruit before pollination, unlike the case where the fruit has already ripened. This does not require him to deny that fruit constitutes yield belonging to the buyer when purchased with the palms after pollination but before ripening. For, in his view, until it ripens, it remains an accessory to the palms, since it cannot be sold separately from them except on condition of immediate harvesting, unlike fruit that has ripened.

Ibn al-Qāsim, however, held that if the sheep bore fully grown fleeces on the day of purchase, the wool does not constitute yield belonging to the buyer, even if he shears it. When returning the sheep for a defect, he must return the wool if it is still available, or its equivalent if it is no longer available. Likewise, when the sheep are recovered by their rightful owner, that owner takes the wool if it is still available, its equivalent if the buyer has consumed it, or its price if he has sold it.

Similarly, upon insolvency, the seller has the stronger claim to the wool, even if the insolvent buyer has shorn it, so long as it is still available. If it is no longer available, he takes the sheep for their share of the price and shares proportionately with the other creditors in respect of the share attributable to the wool. Alternatively, he may leave the sheep and share proportionately with the other creditors in respect of his entire debt.

Ibn al-Qāsim’s position—that wool fully grown on the day of purchase is not an accessory to the sheep and has its own allotted share of the price, even though it is included in the sale without express stipulation—is more convincing than Ashhab’s. The analogous case is the purchase of land containing palms: the palms are included in the sale without express stipulation, yet they are not treated as sold if the seller cuts them down or they are destroyed by a calamity, for the purposes of return on account of a defect, recovery by the rightful owner, and reclamation by the seller upon insolvency.

And Allah, glorified be He, grants success.