Although the scholars have disagreed over the ruling conveyed by this hadith—as we shall explain—while agreeing that the loss of the property sold before possession can be taken invalidates the contract and makes taking the price unlawful, I know of no authentic, explicit hadith from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), other than this one, establishing the rule:

“If the property sold perishes before possession can be taken, the contract is invalidated.”

There are numerous parallels to this. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) may make an explicit statement establishing a general principle, yet that text remains unknown to some scholars. They consequently agree with others on certain rulings derived from that principle, while disputing cases concerning which the text has not reached them. For example, they agree on capital-and-labour profit-sharing partnerships, yet disagree over contracts for tending fruit trees or cultivating crops in return for a share of the yield. Both of the latter are established by explicit texts, whereas profit-sharing partnerships have no explicit text establishing them, only the practice of the Companions (may Allah be pleased with them).

For this reason, jurists versed in hadith would establish a principle on the basis of a text and derive subsidiary rulings from it, rather than dispute the explicitly established principle while agreeing on cases for which there is no text. The result is that the ruling upon which there is consensus becomes prominent, because of the reverence that agreement commands in people’s hearts and because no one may oppose it. Some people, however, have hesitated over the ruling established by an explicit text, even though it may have a stronger basis than the ruling upon which they agree. Even if its basis is unknown to some scholars, this does not detract