If he brings the money within that period, all is well; if he fails, the court declares his right of pre-emption void. Some have maintained that the judge should look into the matter and grant an extension proportionate to the size of the sum involved, whether large or small, but the first view is the one most commonly transmitted from Mālik.

The buyer may summon the pre-emptor before the judge, who will order him either to take the property or to relinquish it. Should he refuse to do either, the judge rules that his pre-emption has lapsed.

The right of pre-emption passes by inheritance from the one in whom it vested. It may neither be sold nor gifted to anyone who has no co-ownership in the original property, for whoever possesses no title to the underlying corpus has no pre-emption at all. The Sunnah has only authorized the judge to award it to a partner who wants it: he must either take it for himself or leave it. A husband may not compel his wife to exercise pre-emption, and no one lacking the right himself may claim it on behalf of another.

If a person, while denying ownership, settles a dispute over an undivided share, he is not entitled to pre-emption; had he acknowledged the share, he would have been. It is permissible for him to settle for part of what was purchased, paying its proportionate share of the price.

When the price of the share is unknown, two situations arise. If the lapse of time has been so long that the price is no longer remembered, the right of pre-emption is severed. If the interval is short, the pre-emptor may take the share at its current market value; this is Mālik’s statement in the Muwaṭṭaʾ and the distilled ruling of his school. Another report from him says that, if the price is unknown, the buyer must swear that he does not know it, has forgotten it, and has concealed nothing; thereafter the pre-emption is void because the price is unknown. Practice, however, follows the first view.

Liability for warranty in pre-emption rests with the buyer, not the original seller; the pre-emptor’s recourse for competing claims or defects is against the buyer alone. This applies whether he exercises his right before or after taking possession. If the buyer has transferred the property or taken in a partner, the warranty passes to whichever of them he chooses.