to sell this slave, this garment, or these garments on his behalf, in this town or another, at a specified price or at whatever price he considers appropriate. In this case, a term must be fixed. According to the apparent meaning of al-Mudawwana, there is no need to stipulate replacement, since the law requires it if the item perishes. It has also been said that, according to his position, such a hire is permissible only if replacement is stipulated should the item perish. If he sells the slave or garment before the term expires, the hire is terminated for the remainder of the term, and he receives a proportion of his fee corresponding to the time elapsed. Advance payment may not be stipulated. This is his position on this question in al-Mudawwana.

According to Sahnūn’s position, however, the hire would not be terminated for the remainder of the term; rather, the hirer would employ him in similar work. If termination of the hire for the remainder of the month were stipulated, Sahnūn would regard it as impermissible, even without advance payment. If, however, someone hired him to sell an animal or garment in that town or another, and the work involved in undertaking its sale had a known endpoint, on condition that he receive his fee whether or not he sold it, this would fall under the fourth type and would be permissible. No term is specified for taking it to market and selling it, since the time required is known. Ashhab stated this at the end of the first section of Asbagh’s transmitted reports in the Book of Task-Based Rewards and Hiring.

The fourth type is hiring someone to perform work involving a particular object, where the work has a known endpoint: for example, hiring him to sew a particular garment, grind particular wheat, or harvest a particular crop. A term may not be fixed for this, because it combines two measures of duration in a single hire and resembles the prohibited arrangement of two sales in one. This is subject, however, to the differing opinions we have mentioned on this matter, as inferred from the Book of Riding Animals and Beasts of Burden in al-Mudawwana and from the beginning of Ibn al-Qāsim’s transmitted reports in the Book of Task-Based Rewards and Hiring.

There is agreement that such a hire is permissible without stipulating replacement. If the object perishes before work begins, or after some of the work has been completed, the well-known position within the school is that the hire is terminated altogether or for the remaining work, respectively. This is Mālik’s position in the section entitled al-Muhrim, among Ibn al-Qāsim’s transmitted reports. The worker is entitled to the fee due for the work he has performed, because the hirer receives each part of the work as it is performed, and the hired worker bears no liability for the object. This differs from the case of a craftsman who is subject to liability: if the garment perishes in his possession before he finishes working on it, and its loss is established by evidence, he is entitled to nothing for the work he has done. Ibn al-Qāsim held two differing opinions on whether the craftsman is entitled to a fee if the garment’s loss is established by evidence after he has finished the work but before he delivers it to its owner. It has also been said that the hire is not terminated and that the hirer employs him to work on a comparable object. This is the view of