may exceed its value in summer, or vice versa. Someone who rents it for a year accepts paying more during certain parts of the rental period in view of its higher value at other times. No one may therefore outbid him because the rental value of those premises has risen. If the lease were to terminate during part of that period, the amount would be apportioned according to the respective rental values, not merely the lengths of time involved.

Thus, one asks: “What is its rental value during the summer?” The rent is then apportioned according to its value at each time, with each period assigned a share of the rent proportionate to its rental value.

The trustee must act in the endowment’s best interests when leasing the premises, whether yearly, monthly or daily. If its interests are best served by leasing them day by day, so that at the end of each day the tenant may vacate and the landlord may require him to do so, he should adopt that arrangement. If its interests are best served by a monthly lease, so that at the beginning of each month the tenant may vacate and the landlord may require him to do so, he should adopt that arrangement. But if a yearly lease serves its interests, he has fulfilled his duty and may not evict the tenant before the lease expires merely to obtain a higher rent.

As for the distinction drawn by some later jurists among the followers of al-Shāfiʿī and Imam Ahmad between an increase amounting to one-third and one amounting to less, this is an innovated opinion with no basis in the teachings of any of the imams—neither al-Shāfiʿī nor Ahmad nor anyone else—whether concerning endowments or other property.