the orphan has attained sound judgment and his property is handed over to him after his sound judgment has been ascertained, even if this has not been established before a judge. The lifting of his legal restriction requires neither judicial verification nor a ruling. Rather, whenever the executor ascertains that he has attained sound judgment, he must hand over his property to him, as Allah Most High says:

“If you find them to be of sound judgment, hand over their property to them. Do not consume it wastefully and hastily before they grow up. Whoever is wealthy should abstain, and whoever is poor may take a reasonable amount. When you hand over their property to them, call witnesses over them. Sufficient is Allah as a Reckoner.”

If, however, the executor handed the property over to someone to whom it was not permissible to entrust it, he is liable for it. If the property subsequently reached the orphan, whose sound judgment was evident, the executor is absolved of liability, just as anyone who wrongfully seizes property is absolved when it reaches its rightful owner—even if its return involves no action or transgression on his part. For example, the owner might recover it by force, someone else might retrieve it for him, or the wind might carry it to him.

If, after his sound judgment has been ascertained, the orphan denies having received the property from that recipient, who was not the executor’s agent, his statement is accepted upon his oath. But if he denies that the executor or his agent handed it over to anyone, is his statement accepted, or that of the executor? There is a well-known disagreement among the scholars concerning this.

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

Concerning an executor who holds property belonging to orphans: may he set aside a share from his own property and a share from theirs, and spend it on them and himself?