or by weight; if that too is impossible, he may claim the monetary value of the property taken from him, exactly as one does when returning goods on account of a defect.

All of the foregoing rulings apply when a man buys that very object itself, whether it is food or something else—in short, any kind of merchandise. If, however, the purchase concerned a fungible good owed generically (maḍmūn), he may demand another item of the same kind and quality.

Loss with respect to merchandise sold by volume or weight is deemed to occur when the item cannot be found, when its substance has changed and its market has disappeared; a mere shift in markets for such measured goods is not considered loss.

Whoever buys a specific stock of food on condition that it be measured, and the whole of it perishes before the measuring takes place, the sale is void with regard to that food. If only part of it perishes, the sale is void for the part destroyed and remains valid for the remainder, provided what remains constitutes the bulk of the bargain; if the remainder is only a small fraction, the purchaser is not bound to accept it unless he chooses to keep it for its corresponding share of the price.

When a house is sold and part of it is later reclaimed through istihqāq, then if the portion reclaimed is substantial—one-third or more—the buyer may return the entire house; if it is less than one-third, he returns only the portion claimed. Ashhab stated that this applies to large houses, where losing a small part causes no real harm to the purchaser. As for small houses, or properties that do not lend themselves to division, the buyer may return the whole house.

If a slave or a garment is sold and any portion of it—whether small or large—is reclaimed, the buyer has a choice of two courses: he may either return the entire item and recover the full price, or return only the adjudicated portion and reclaim the corresponding share of the price.

If someone rents a house and part of it is reclaimed, the ruling is the same as in a sale, provided the rent is the same for every month.

When a woman’s bridal dowry consists of a specified piece of land, a female slave, a house, or a male slave, and any part of it is reclaimed, she is entitled to its value—unlike the rule in a sale. And if only part of it is reclaimed, then if it is