making him forget his craft, weakening his strength, or corrupting his intellect and religion, then here too the owner may choose between claiming compensation for the diminution in value and demanding a replacement. If someone cuts off the tail of a judge’s mule, Mālik holds that he must provide a replacement and becomes its owner, since, by customary standards, its owner can no longer use it for its intended purpose; alternatively, the owner is given the choice. The same applies to a ruler if someone cuts off his horse’s ears and tail.

The second principle is that all destroyed property must, as far as possible, be compensated for with property of the same kind, taking its value into account. This includes animals, just as a loan must be repaid with its equivalent. If someone borrows an animal, he returns an equivalent, as in the report:

“The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, borrowed a young camel and repaid it with a better one.”

Likewise, in the case of a man deceived concerning a slave woman, compensation for his children is made by providing their equivalents, as the Companions ruled. Similarly, if a seller reserves the head of the animal sold, but the animal is not slaughtered, the Companions ruled that a head should be purchased—namely, one equivalent to it in value. This is one of the two views within Ahmad’s school and elsewhere.

The account of David and Solomon, peace be upon them both, belongs to this category. The livestock had destroyed the people’s cultivated land, which was their orchard. They said it was an ʿayn. The term harth (cultivated land) applies to both trees and crops. David awarded the sheep to the owners of the cultivated land, apparently holding the livestock owners liable for its monetary value. Since they possessed no property other than the sheep, he awarded the sheep as compensation of equivalent value.

Solomon, however, ruled that the livestock owners should tend the cultivated land until it was restored to its former condition. He thus required them to make restitution in kind, and gave the livestock to the owners of the cultivated land so that they could benefit from it as compensation