Mālik’s transmitted opinions also vary when the seller stipulates that the animal’s head, its fore-shanks, its liver, or one or two ratls (roughly pounds) of its meat are excluded. On one occasion he deemed that disliked, allowing it only during travel and still disapproving of it in settled circumstances; this is the view preferred by Ibn ʿAbd al-Ḥakam. On another occasion he approved it both on a journey and at home, considering the amount insignificant; this is the position reported by Ibn al-Qāsim. If the buyer of the sheep then refuses to slaughter it, he is compelled to do so.

Among scholars other than Mālik there are two opinions. One group allows a seller to reserve whatever part he wishes of a sheep or camel, whether the part is taken while traveling or while resident. A second group does not permit any reservation at all, whether on the road or at home. Both views are also related from Mālik himself.

It is permissible to purchase a share of a sheep—or of any other living animal—while it is still alive, thereby becoming a co-owner, for the liability of the portion purchased rests with the buyer, who is the seller’s partner in that share, whether the joint purchase is intended for slaughter or for keeping the animal alive.

Likewise, there is no harm in a man’s selling the dates of his orchard while excluding a known fraction—one-third, one-quarter, one-half, or any amount he wishes, whether small or large—because the object of sale is clearly defined. Nor is there any objection to reserving specific palm-trees or other trees by name; according to Mālik it is also valid even if the trees are not named individually, provided he will choose them later and their fruit amounts to one-third of the total harvest or less. All this applies when the orchard produces a single variety of dates; if it contains multiple varieties, it is only valid if he sells each variety separately. It is not permissible to buy the fruit of palm-trees that the buyer will select later, nor to buy one heap chosen from among heaps that differ in variety or measure.

According to Mālik, it is permissible for a man to sell the fruit of his orchard while reserving from it a specific, known quantity—by volume or by weight—so long as it does not exceed one-third; if it is more, the sale is invalid, and the same applies