rather, the sole dispute is over whether it is obligatory in the tashahhud at which one gives the final salām. Ṭāwūs used to order anyone who omitted it to repeat the prayer, and this has been cited as one view within the madhhab of Aḥmad.

He said: They unanimously agreed that the waiting-period (‘iddah) of a free Muslim divorcée who is neither pregnant nor in doubt about pregnancy and who has not menstruated—or does not menstruate, even though puberty is conceivable for her—is three consecutive months. (1)

I say: Concerning a woman who has reached the age of menses yet has never menstruated, there are two reports from Aḥmad. The more widely known among his followers is that her waiting-period is the same as that of one whose pregnancy is uncertain: nine months, then three months, like a woman whose bleeding has ceased and she does not know the cause.

He said: They unanimously agreed that borrowing anything other than live animals is permissible, and they differed about the permissibility of borrowing slaves, female servants, and other livestock. (2)

I say: The consensus applies only to loans of fungible goods—items measured by volume or weight. As for anything else, Abū Ḥanīfah does not permit it to be loaned, because a loan entails repayment in kind, and, in his view, it has no exact equivalent; hence the dispute over it is like the dispute over animals.

He said: They unanimously agreed that a bequest for sinful purposes is invalid, and that a bequest for charity, or for something that is neither charity nor sin nor a waste of wealth, is valid. (3)

I say: A bequest—or an endowment—for something that is neither righteousness nor sin is the subject of two opinions in the school of Aḥmad and others. The sound view is that it is invalid, for a person derives no benefit from giving wealth after death unless it is directed toward obedience to Allah. Spending it on something that is neither obedience nor sin brings him no benefit after death, unlike spending during one’s lifetime on lawful matters such as food, drink, and clothing, from which he does benefit.

And concerning the jizya he said: They unanimously agreed that if the person from whom it is accepted—for himself alone—pays four gold mithqāls each year, while abiding by the stipulated conditions of protection, then the life, property, family, and honor of anyone who fulfils that are inviolable. (4)