I bought a slave and made him earn something for me, but afterwards I found a defect in him and so brought a case regarding him before ‘Umar b. ‘Abd al-‘Aziz, who decided in my favour that I should return him, but against me that I should return what he had earned. I therefore went to ‘Urwa and informed him, and he replied that he would go that evening to him and tell him he had been informed by ‘A'isha that God’s Messenger had given judgment in a similar case that any profit goes to the one who bears responsibility*. ‘Urwa went to him, and he gave judgment in my favour that I should receive the profit from the one for whom he had given the decision against me.
* al-Kharaj bid daman. After a sale any profit which accrues belongs to the buyer.
‘Abdallah b. Mas'ud reported God’s Messenger as saying, “When two people who are arranging a business transaction disagree the decision rests with the seller, but the buyer has the right to choose whether he will confirm this*.”
Tirmidhi transmitted it.
In the version of Ibn Majah and Darimi he said, “When two people who are arranging a business transaction disagree, the commodity being present and is neither being able to prove his case, the decision rests with the seller, or they may both reject the transaction.”
* The seller swears an oath to the effect that he is right. The buyer may either agree or swear in an oath that he is right. In the latter instance the qadi cancels the deal.
Narrated ‘A'isha said Barira came telling her she had arranged to buy her freedom for nine uqiyas; one to be paid annually, and asking her to help her. ‘A’isha replied, “If your people are willing that I should count them out to them all at one time and set you free, I shall do so, and I shall have the right:
What is the matter with people who make conditions which are not in God’s Book? Any condition which is not in God’s Book is worthless. Even if there are a hundred conditions, God’s decision is more valid and God's condition is more binding. The right of inheritance belongs only to the one who has set a person free.”
