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As for an orphan for whom neither her father nor a testamentary guardian has appointed a guardian, there are two views concerning her:

The first is that her transactions are valid once she reaches the age of menstruation. This is Sahnūn’s view in al-ʿUtbiyya, the view attributed in al-Mudawwana to someone other than Ibn al-Qāsim, and Ziyād’s report from Mālik.

The second is that her transactions are invalid until she reaches the age of spinsterhood. Five views have been expressed concerning the age of spinsterhood in her case:

One sets it at thirty years; this is Ibn al-Mājishūn’s view. Another sets it below thirty; this is Ibn Nāfiʿ’s view.

Another sets it at forty, as reported by Mutarrif from Mālik and by Asbagh from Ibn al-Qāsim.

Another sets it between fifty and sixty, as reported by Sahnūn from Ibn al-Qāsim. In al-Mudawwana, Ibn al-Qāsim reports from Mālik that her transactions are not valid until she reaches the age of spinsterhood and reaches menopause, or unless she marries, her husband consummates the marriage, and she remains with him for a period sufficient for her to be presumed to have sound financial judgment. It has been said that this period is at most one year. This is Ibn al-Mājishūn’s view, which Ibn al-ʿAttār adopted in his work on legal documents.

Others say three years or thereabouts. Ibn Abī Zamanīn said that the position he found the teachers following was that her transactions should not be deemed valid until she had spent some two or three years in her husband’s home.

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We have now, praise be to Allah, fulfilled our undertaking to explain the criteria distinguishing those who may validly