as in a salam sale; the same applies to specified items. A seller may have a legitimate purpose in delaying delivery, as Jābir did when he sold his camel to the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, reserving the right to ride it to Medina. Thus, the correct view is that any contracting party may reserve whatever use of the subject matter serves a legitimate purpose. For example, someone may sell a property while reserving the right to live in it for a period; sell his riding animals while reserving the right to ride them; give away property while reserving its use; free a slave while reserving his service for a period or for the remainder of the master’s life; or establish an endowment while reserving its income for himself during his lifetime, and so forth.

This is the expressly stated position of Ahmad and others. Some of Ahmad’s followers, however, said that anyone who reserves the use of an item he sells must first deliver it to the buyer and then take it back to enjoy that use. This rests on the unsound principle that entitlement to possession must necessarily arise immediately upon conclusion of the contract. It is a weak position.

On the same principle, some maintained that a lease is valid only for a term beginning immediately after the contract is concluded. They observed what people sometimes do and made it binding upon them in every circumstance. This is unsound analogical reasoning.

They also based their rulings concerning the sale of leased property on this principle. Some said that the sale is invalid because the right to use the property is not included in the sale, so delivery cannot take place.

Others said that this is an exclusion established by the Sharia, unlike an exclusion stipulated by contract. Yet if someone sells a married slave woman, the sale is valid by their agreement, even though the benefit of