and anything similar while the animal is still alive: on one occasion Mālik regarded the transaction as objectionable, on another he deemed it permissible, and the settled view of his school, according to his companions, is that it is lawful.

Mālik also saw no harm in selling the milk of cows or sheep for a specified number of days, provided the person who will do the milking is known. By contrast, it is not permitted to sell the meat of a sheep while it is alive, nor to sell a portion of its meat, for that flesh is out of sight and its quality cannot be ascertained; the same ruling applies to oil that is yet to be pressed from olives and to anything similar.

It is, however, permissible in Mālik’s view for a man to sell a sheep while reserving for himself a small amount of its meat—up to one-third of the carcass or less; anything beyond that is disapproved. The distinction between the two situations is this: if a person buys the entire sheep while the seller withholds a few pounds of its meat, liability for the animal passes to the purchaser. But if he buys the meat itself, or some part of it, while the animal is still alive, liability remains with the seller should the animal die or be lost, and the buyer of the meat has no way of knowing whether what he will receive is fat or lean—so take heed of the difference.