VOLUME TWENTY-NINE
BOOK OF JURISPRUDENCE
PART NINE:
SALES

Shaykh al-Islām Ahmad ibn Taymiyyah—may Allah sanctify his soul—said:

In the name of Allah, the Most Merciful, the Bestower of Mercy.

As for contracts governing financial transactions, marriage, and other matters, we shall set out comprehensive principles of great benefit, for the same approach applies to them as to acts of worship. Among these topics is:

“The Form of Contracts”

The jurists hold three positions on this matter.

The first:

The basic rule is that contracts are valid only through a verbal formula: the expressions that some jurists may specifically designate as “offer and acceptance.” This applies equally to sales, leases, gifts, marriage, manumission, endowments, and other transactions. This is the apparent import of al-Shāfi‘ī’s position, and it is also a position within Ahmad’s school. In some matters, such as sales and endowments, it is explicitly transmitted from him; in others, such as gifts and leases, it is inferred from his positions on other questions.

Those who hold this view allow gestures to take the place of spoken expressions when a person is unable to speak, as in the case of a mute person’s gestures. They also allow writing to take the place of spoken expressions when needed.