He—may Allah have mercy on him—was also asked:

A man leased an orchard for two years. It contained some open ground, but most of it was occupied by trees. The land was described as open ground, while the trees were covered by a fruit-sharing agreement for a one-thousandth share. They used this agreement as a legal stratagem to sell the fruit before its sale became permissible. Locusts then destroyed most of the fruit. Is the lessee entitled to a reduction for what the locusts destroyed?

He replied:

In these transactions concerning orchards, known as damān (guarantee contracts), it makes no difference whether they take place before the fruit appears and before it shows signs of ripeness, after both stages, or between them. Nor does it matter whether they are called guarantee contracts or, as a legal stratagem, fruit-sharing and lease contracts. If the fruit is destroyed by locusts or similar calamities beyond the parties’ control, such as plundering by armies and the like, the lessee-purchaser must be granted a reduction to account for the calamity. The amount he owes must be reduced in proportion to the loss of what he was to receive in exchange, whether the contract is invalid or valid.

The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, expressly ruled on both cases in authentic hadiths narrated by Anas and Jābir. This is the position of the great majority of scholars regarding a valid contract. How much more, then, does it apply to a contract that is invalid, whose validity is disputed, or that is made to appear valid through a legal stratagem? Allah knows best.