Bayhaqi 10624 — Those who said: A loss from a natural calamity

Imam al-Shafi'i (may Allah have mercy on him), in the course of his discussion of the issue of crop calamity (ja'ihah), says: If the owner of the fruit did not own the price of the part of his fruit struck by calamity, there would be no point in his (peace and blessings be upon him) forbidding him to sell it (before it ripens), since it is lawful to sell it as spathes or as unripe dates that are picked and cut. Rather, he (peace and blessings be upon him) ordered that it be sold at the time when it is most likely to escape blight. And if the buyer were not liable for the price of what the calamity struck, that (early sale) would not harm the seller and the buyer. He said: If the hadith on remitting (the price) for calamity is established, there would be no argument in this, and that hadith would be applied as it stands.