and marriage, since these contracts do not entail a right of replacement, it is invalid to sell something whose use is unlawful or to marry a woman with whom intercourse is forbidden. This resembles the case of someone who offers an animal that is ineligible as a sacrificial offering: its proceeds are used to purchase an eligible offering. The same applies to the Eid sacrifice. Ahmad’s words support the first approach, not the second.

This is the approach of Abū Muhammad and others among Ahmad’s followers. Abū Muhammad said:

“Ahmad permitted the silver from a saddle and bridle to be used to purchase a saddle and bridle, because this directs their value to equipment of the same kind as that which the silver had adorned, once it no longer serves a useful purpose there. This resembles a horse endowed for jihad: if it becomes unfit and can no longer be used in jihad, it may be sold and its proceeds spent on another like it.”

He said:

“It was not permissible to spend the silver on the horse’s upkeep, because that would divert it from its designated purpose.”

Abū Muhammad treated this as a case in which all benefit had ceased, like a horse becoming unfit or an endowed property falling into ruin. This accords with his principle that an endowment may be sold only when it has ceased to provide any benefit whatsoever, as discussed above. It also indicates that endowing jewellery is valid, which is the position of al-Khiraqī, al-Qādī and others. Al-Qādī presents its validity as the sole position of the school. Abū al-Khattāb and others, however, recognize disagreement on the issue; indeed, they cite explicit statements that it is invalid, according to the statements of Ahmad that reached them.

Al-Qādī said:

“What if someone endows jewellery to be lent out and worn? In the reports of al-Athram and Hanbal, he said, ‘It is not valid,’ and rejected the hadith narrated from Umm Salama concerning its endowment.”

Al-Qādī said:

“The apparent meaning of what al-Khiraqī transmitted is that endowing it is permissible, because it can be used while the property itself remains intact. His statement, ‘It is not valid,’ means that the hadith is not authentic