the third view, which is the position we seek to establish. As for the Prophet’s statement (peace and blessings be upon him):

“Whoever stipulates a condition that is not in Allah’s Book, it is invalid, even if there are a hundred conditions. Allah’s Book has greater authority, and Allah’s condition is more binding.”

The word “condition” sometimes denotes the act of stipulating and sometimes the matter stipulated. The same applies to “promise” and “breach of promise.” Another example is the expression “a dirham of the ruler’s minting.” What is meant here—and Allah knows best—is the matter stipulated, not the speaker himself. Hence he said:

“Even if there are a hundred conditions.”

That is, even if there are a hundred stipulated matters. The point is not the number of times a condition is uttered, but the number of matters stipulated. The evidence for this is his statement:

“Allah’s Book has greater authority, and Allah’s condition is more binding.”

That is, Allah’s Book has greater authority than this condition, and Allah’s condition is more binding than it. This applies only when that condition contradicts Allah’s Book and His condition, by stipulating something Allah Most High has forbidden.

If, however, the matter stipulated is something Allah has not forbidden, it does not contradict Allah’s Book or His condition such that one could say:

“Allah’s Book has greater authority, and Allah’s condition is more binding.”

The meaning, then, is: whoever stipulates something not sanctioned by Allah’s ruling or His Book, whether indirectly or directly, that stipulation is invalid. For the stipulated matter must be something permissible to do without the condition before it can validly be stipulated and thereby become obligatory. Since Allah’s Book never assigns the right of patronage to anyone other than the emancipator, this stipulated matter—namely, assigning the right of patronage to someone other than the emancipator—was a condition not in Allah’s Book.