will know with certainty that they did not insist on verbal formulas from both parties. The reports concerning this are numerous, but this is not the place to discuss them, since the purpose here is to draw attention to general principles. Detailed discussion of individual cases belongs elsewhere.

Examples include the following:

The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, built his mosque, and the Muslims built mosques during his lifetime and after his death. Yet he did not command anyone to say, “I dedicate this mosque as an endowment,” or anything similar. Rather, the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said:

“Whoever builds a mosque for Allah, Allah will build him a house in Paradise.”

He thus made the ruling depend on the act of building itself.

The two Sahīhs report that when he purchased the camel from ‘Abdullāh ibn ‘Umar ibn al-Khattāb, he said:

“It is yours, ‘Abdullāh ibn ‘Umar.”

Yet Ibn ‘Umar uttered no words of acceptance. The Prophet would give and receive gifts, and taking possession of a gift constituted acceptance of it.

When he slaughtered the sacrificial camels, he said:

“Whoever wishes may cut himself a portion.”

He said this even though he could have divided the meat among them. This constituted an offer, while cutting off a portion constituted acceptance. When asked, he would give; he would also give without being asked, and the recipient would take possession of what was given. Giving constituted the offer, and taking constituted acceptance.

This occurred on very many occasions. He did not instruct the recipients to utter any particular words, nor did he undertake to address them with a verbal formula, as when he gave to those whose hearts were to be reconciled, to al-‘Abbās, and to others.

He also treated presenting an item for sale as having certain qualities as equivalent to stipulating those qualities verbally, as in the case of an animal whose milk has been allowed to accumulate in its udder, and other deceptively presented goods.