he will not ride it until more than ten days have elapsed—thirty days or thereabouts, as stated in al-Mudawwana—the hire is not permissible with advance payment, but is permissible without it. Another scholar said that the hire is impermissible even without advance payment, because it constitutes tahjīr (restriction).
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A contract for the hire of a specified animal terminates upon the death of the riding camel or beast of burden. If it dies partway through the journey and the owner wishes to provide another specified animal on which the hirer can reach his destination, this is permissible if the hirer has not yet paid, since it constitutes a new hire contract. If, however, he has already paid, it is impermissible, because it involves replacing one debt with another: applying the unused balance of his advance payment, which he is entitled to recover, to the hire of a riding camel. An exception is made if this occurs in a desert where no animal is available for hire; it is then permissible out of necessity. Ibn Habīb said, “Just as a person compelled by necessity may eat carrion.”
This is according to Ibn al-Qāsim’s position. According to Ashhab, however, it is permissible, because a person may exchange a debt owed to him for the services of a specified slave or the hire of a specified animal. He does not regard this as replacing one debt with another, because the exchange is merely for the use of a specified thing. He therefore treats taking possession of that thing in order to receive its benefits as receipt of all those benefits. However, the hirer may not use the hire payment he is entitled to recover from the owner to enter into a new hire contract with him under an undertaking to provide an animal. Ibn al-Qāsim, Ashhab and others agree on this.
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If the owner of the riding camel becomes insolvent under a contract for the hire of a specified animal, the hirer has a preferential right to it until he reaches his destination, whether or not he has taken possession of it and whether or not he has paid the hire charge.
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As for hiring a beast of burden or riding camel under an undertaking to provide one, this is when someone says, “Hire me a beast of burden or