Chapter : The Ruling on Calamity (jā’iḥa) in a musāqāh

If a calamity befalls part of the orchard, the ruined portion is dropped from the agreement whenever no fruit can reasonably be expected from it. Any palm whose dates have already been cut need not be watered, but whatever has not yet been harvested must still be irrigated until its fruit is gathered, even if other trees are harvested before it.

Should the whole orchard be destroyed, the musāqāh is nullified. If one-third or more is lost, two reports are attributed to Mālik. In the first, the worker may choose either to cancel the musāqāh or to carry on with it; in the second, the contract remains binding on both parties.