Khiyar al-Ru’yah: Inspection, Unauthorized Sale and Options

1. Introduction to inspection-based option

Khiyar al-ru’yah is an option available to a purchaser who had not seen the goods at the time of sale. Upon legally adequate inspection, the purchaser may keep the property or return it.

The chapter defines sufficient inspection, special treatment of a blind buyer, unauthorized sale of another’s property, a two-item purchase, and earlier inspection.

The validity of a contract and whether it is binding without an option are distinct questions.

2. Original rule: buying unseen goods

بَابُ خِيَارِ الرُّؤْيَةِ
وَمَنِ اشْتَرَى شَيْئًا لَمْ يَرَهُ فَالْبَيْعُ جَائِزٌ، وَلَهُ الْخِيَارُ إِذَا رَآهُ: إِنْ شَاءَ أَخَذَهُ وَإِنْ شَاءَ رَدَّهُ
Translation: A sale of an identifiable thing bought without prior viewing is valid; on seeing it, the buyer may accept or return it.

Quduri first calls the sale valid despite the buyer not seeing the thing, and then grants an inspection option.

Example: a buyer purchases a specifically identified sheet inside a closed chest. A sale may occur before inspection, with the inspection-based choice available later.

This does not license sales of an utterly unidentified or nonexistent subject matter; that is a different validity question.

3. A valid contract may remain nonbinding

A valid sale is a legally recognized contract. A binding sale cannot be unilaterally ended without an applicable legal ground.

For an unseen purchase, a sale has formed, but the buyer retains a legally grounded right of rejection on adequate inspection.

Agreement to a description and price is not automatically equivalent to approval after actually seeing the goods.

4. Affirmation and rescission before viewing

A significant Hanafi qualification is that an unseen purchaser’s preliminary statement “I approve” does not by itself necessarily waive the inspection option before adequate viewing. This is because the option is linked to inspection.

The commentary al-Ikhtiyar also explains that the buyer may rescind the sale before inspection. Thus, “the option arises at viewing” does not mean all pre-inspection rescission is forbidden.

Example: a buyer purchases a specified item in a closed box and expresses satisfaction before opening it. That statement alone does not automatically cancel the later inspection right; a separate binding disposal of the goods may have different effects.

5. Compare the two options

Khiyar al-shart arises from an expressly stipulated contractual choice, with its own period rules.

Khiyar al-ru’yah concerns a purchaser who did not see the goods. This chapter does not prescribe the earlier three-day limit for it.

1. A viewed table is sold with an agreed two-day option: stipulated option.
2. A specified packaged table is bought unseen: inspection option when viewed.

6. Original rule: no option for the seller

وَمَنْ بَاعَ مَا لَمْ يَرَهُ فَلَا خِيَارَ لَهُ
Translation: A seller who sells something without having seen it has no khiyar al-ru’yah.

The purchaser and seller are treated differently. The unseen purchaser receives a specific inspection option; the seller does not acquire the same right simply because the seller had not seen the property.

Example: an owner sells a specified warehouse machine without inspecting it. Later disappointment on seeing it does not create the seller’s khiyar al-ru’yah. Other distinct grounds of challenge require separate analysis.

7. Original rule: sufficient parts to inspect

وَمَنْ نَظَرَ إِلَى وَجْهِ الصُّبْرَةِ، أَوْ إِلَى ظَاهِرِ الثَّوْبِ مَطْوِيًّا، أَوْ إِلَى وَجْهِ الْجَارِيَةِ، أَوْ إِلَى وَجْهِ الدَّابَّةِ وَكَفَلِهَا فَلَا خِيَارَ لَهُ
Translation: Seeing the exposed part of a grain heap, the outside of a folded fabric, a female slave’s face in the historical example, or an animal’s face and hindquarter removes the inspection option under these specified rules.

The guiding idea is viewing the portion that conventionally reveals what matters about the goods. Not every object requires identical exposure.

Quduri provides four distinct examples. Their shared lesson is adequate recognition of the relevant qualities, not the blanket rule that a casual glance always suffices.

The reference to an enslaved woman belongs to a historical legal context and is not an endorsement of human sale today.

8. Viewing the face of a grain heap

A subrah is a heap of grain or comparable goods. Quduri treats viewing its exposed face as legally sufficient inspection in the standard case.

The exposed portion identifies the type and visible quality of this homogeneous mass. It is not permission to conceal a materially different interior.

A deceptive mismatch between surface and contents may give rise to a separate legal issue rather than a fresh inspection right by mere analogy.

9. Viewing folded cloth

Quduri mentions the outside of a folded fabric as sufficient viewing for this option.

The ordinary purpose is identifying its kind, color and visible workmanship. If the material later proves to contain a hidden defect, the separate chapter on defects becomes relevant.

Distinguish “never adequately inspected” from “inspected but a defect was concealed.”

10. Inspection of an animal

For an animal, the text identifies the face and hindquarter (kafal) as the relevant viewed parts.

This provides an ordinary basis for assessing the animal’s appearance and build. Hearing only a description from a distance is not the same kind of inspection.

A subsequently discovered concealed illness concerns the separate defect doctrine, not simply absence of earlier sight.

11. Original rule: viewing a courtyard

وَإِنْ رَأَى صَحْنَ الدَّارِ فَلَا خِيَارَ لَهُ وَإِنْ لَمْ يُشَاهِدْ بُيُوتَهَا
Translation: If the buyer sees the courtyard of a house, the inspection option is lost even if the rooms were not personally seen.

Sahn al-dar is the open central courtyard, while buyutuha refers to rooms of the house. The chapter expressly counts seeing the courtyard as sufficient for khiyar al-ru’yah.

That should not be confused with a separate claim based on a concealed defect, false measurement or an expressly promised feature. Such claims rest on different causes.

12. Different goods, different meaningful inspection

The four examples differ by the nature of their subject matter:
1. Grain heap — visible outer face.
2. Folded fabric — exposed surface.
3. Animal — face and hindquarter.
4. House — courtyard.

The jurisprudential point is not “any partial glance suffices.” These rules identify significant inspection for specified classes of goods; novel goods require careful legal application.

13. Original rule: valid dealings of a blind person

وَبَيْعُ الْأَعْمَى وَشِرَاؤُهُ جَائِزٌ، وَلَهُ الْخِيَارُ إِذَا اشْتَرَى
Translation: A blind person’s buying and selling are valid, and when acting as purchaser the blind person has an option.

Blindness does not remove contractual capacity: a blind person may lawfully buy and sell.

When that person is a purchaser, the text recognizes a choice and then specifies functional substitutes for ordinary sight: touch, smell and taste, depending on the goods.

Do not turn the statement into “every blind seller always has the option.” The text specifically says when purchasing.

14. Original rule: substitute modes of recognition

وَيَسْقُطُ خِيَارُهُ بِأَنْ يَجُسَّ الْمَبِيعَ إِذَا كَانَ يُعْرَفُ بِالْجَسِّ، أَوْ يَشُمَّهُ إِذَا كَانَ يُعْرَفُ بِالشَّمِّ، أَوْ يَذُوقَهُ إِذَا كَانَ يُعْرَفُ بِالذَّوْقِ
Translation: The blind purchaser’s inspection option ends by touching goods known by touch, smelling those known by smell, or tasting those known by taste.

The relevant question is which sense reveals the quality ordinarily used to identify the goods. A token touch does not establish everything about every kind of object.

This clause assigns an effective mode of recognition according to the class of goods.

It does not require touch, smell and taste together for every purchase; the suitable mode depends on the goods.

15. Touch-based recognition

Texture, thickness and softness of fabric can be assessed by touch. An effective tactile inspection can therefore be relevant to the blind purchaser’s inspection option.

Example: a person chooses a specified textile and recognizes its texture by handling it. That differs from only hearing the merchant’s opinion.

A concealed tear found later concerns a potentially separate defect remedy.

16. Smell and taste as appropriate tests

Some goods are conventionally judged by smell, such as perfume; others may be evaluated by taste, such as edible products.

Examples:
1. Sampling perfume’s scent — smell.
2. Tasting an agreed sample of honey — taste.

These are illustrative applications, not permission to consume or open a seller’s goods without authorization. The legal principle is effective identification of a relevant quality.

17. Original rule: real property must be described

وَلَا يَسْقُطُ خِيَارُهُ فِي الْعَقَارِ حَتَّى يُوصَفَ لَهُ
Translation: For immovable property, the blind buyer’s option does not lapse until the property is described to the buyer.

Aqar means immovable property such as land and buildings. Its dimensions and layout are not adequately understood by a touch alone; therefore the text requires description.

Example: the blind buyer receives an adequate account of the house’s boundaries, dimensions and essential features. The clause makes description central in this context.

An inaccurate or deceptive description can raise a distinct dispute.

18. Inspection according to subject matter

The mode of legally relevant inspection varies:
1. Grain heap: its visible face.
2. Folded cloth: its exposed surface.
3. Perfume for a blind purchaser: relevant smell.
4. House for a blind purchaser: adequate description.

The shared theme is recognition sufficient for the particular goods, not one universal physical act.

Modern applications should be examined under the wider fiqh rather than decided by superficial analogy alone.

19. Original rule: selling another’s property

وَمَنْ بَاعَ مِلْكَ غَيْرِهِ بِغَيْرِ أَمْرِهِ فَالْمَالِكُ بِالْخِيَارِ: إِنْ شَاءَ أَجَازَ الْبَيْعَ وَإِنْ شَاءَ فَسَخَ
Translation: If someone sells property owned by another person without authorization, the owner may ratify the sale or reject it.

A fuduli is a person who concludes a transaction concerning someone else’s property without authority from its owner.

Here the decisive right lies with the real owner. The unauthorized seller cannot substitute their own willingness for the owner’s consent.

Example: someone sells a sibling’s identified motorcycle without permission. The owner may approve or reject, subject to the conditions stated in the next clause.

20. Original rule: conditions of ratification

وَلَهُ الْإِجَازَةُ إِذَا كَانَ الْمَعْقُودُ عَلَيْهِ بَاقِيًا وَالْمُتَعَاقِدَانِ بِحَالِهِمَا
Translation: The owner can ratify the transaction if the object of sale remains and the contracting parties remain in their legally relevant original status.

Quduri specifies two conditions for ratification:
1. The contracted subject matter still exists.
2. The two contracting parties remain in the relevant continuing legal position.

This is not a blanket rule that subsequent permission always cures every unauthorized sale.

Loss of the goods or a legally material change in the parties requires more detailed treatment.

21. Owner’s ratification is not the buyer’s inspection option

Two different actors have distinct rights:
1. Inspection option: the buyer had not seen the goods.
2. Unauthorized sale: the real owner did not authorize the sale and decides whether to ratify.

Their appearance in the same chapter does not give them the same legal cause. One concerns inspection; the other, ownership authority.

Start every case by identifying whether the claimant is the buyer or the true owner.

22. Original rule: two garments as one purchase

وَمَنْ رَأَى أَحَدَ ثَوْبَيْنِ فَاشْتَرَاهُمَا، ثُمَّ رَأَى الْآخَرَ جَازَ لَهُ أَنْ يَرُدَّهُمَا
Translation: If a buyer saw one of two garments, bought both together, and then viewed the other, the buyer may return both garments.

The transaction is a single combined purchase of two garments, one unseen at the time of agreement. On viewing the second, the buyer may return both.

Example: two shawls are bought together for Rs 6,000; the buyer saw only one. Once the second is viewed, the stated rule allows returning the pair.

Do not misread the clause as confining the option to the unseen garment alone.

23. The unit of a combined contract

The phrase bought them both matters: the buyer entered one combined transaction without inspecting both goods.

The rule protects a buyer from having to retain the whole combined transaction despite the inspection right arising on one item.

If two objects were bought under genuinely separate contracts, that is not automatically the same legal case.

24. Original rule: death ends the option

وَمَنْ مَاتَ وَلَهُ خِيَارُ الرُّؤْيَةِ بَطَلَ خِيَارُهُ
Translation: If a person holding khiyar al-ru’yah dies, that option lapses.

The explicit rule is the inspection option lapses on death. It does not simply pass on as the same right of choice.

Example: a purchaser buys identified goods unseen but dies before legally sufficient inspection. The personal khiyar al-ru’yah terminates.

Questions about the property and estate remain separate from the noninheritance of this particular option.

25. Original rule: earlier sight and later change

وَمَنْ رَأَى شَيْئًا ثُمَّ اشْتَرَاهُ بَعْدَ مُدَّةٍ فَإِنْ كَانَ عَلَى الصِّفَةِ الَّتِي رَآهُ فَلَا خِيَارَ لَهُ، وَإِنْ وَجَدَهُ مُتَغَيِّرًا فَلَهُ الْخِيَارُ
Translation: One who saw an item and bought it later has no inspection option if its qualities remain as previously seen; if it has changed, the buyer has the option.

The passage of time alone is not the decisive cause. The critical question is whether the relevant characteristics changed.

If the item remains as it was at the earlier viewing, that sight suffices; if it materially differs, an inspection option arises.

Example: a textile was viewed ten days earlier and purchased later. Mere lapse of ten days does not create an option if it remains as viewed; a meaningful change alters the conclusion.

26. Two outcomes after earlier viewing

Compare two cases:
1. No relevant change: a chair seen two weeks ago still has the same legally material features when purchased; no fresh inspection option under this rule.
2. Relevant change: the chair’s material or condition has changed in an important respect; the earlier view no longer suffices.

The character of the change matters; trivial irrelevant differences are not automatically equivalent to material alteration.

27. Do not confuse unseen goods with hidden defects

Khiyar al-ru’yah addresses an item bought without adequate viewing, or a material change since its earlier viewing.

Khiyar al-ayb concerns a qualifying defect, even if the buyer saw the item beforehand.

1. Opening a sealed package to view the specified item for the first time: inspection.
2. Finding a pre-existing hidden fault in a previously viewed watch: defect.

The next chapter is Bab Khiyar al-Ayb.

28. Integrated case: who has the option?

Someone sells a friend’s specific shawl without authority for Rs 4,000, and the purchaser has not viewed it.

This presents at least two different issues:
1. Does the real owner ratify the unauthorized sale? — fuduli transaction.
2. If the transaction becomes operative, does the buyer retain a right upon inspecting it? — khiyar al-ru’yah.

Resolving one issue does not erase all other independent rights by default.

29. A practical issue-checking sequence

A useful case-analysis sequence is:
1. Was the seller authorized by the owner?
2. Was the subject matter existent and identified?
3. Had the buyer adequately inspected it?
4. If not, what mode of inspection suffices?
5. If previously inspected, was there a material change?
6. Is the claim about inspection, a defect, or another legal ground?

This separates contract validity, the right holder and the cause of the option.

30. Chapter conclusion and next topic

The complete chapter has covered:
1. Buying identified unseen goods and the buyer’s option.
2. No equivalent option for an unseeing seller.
3. Sufficient viewing of grain, cloth, animals and houses.
4. Appropriate sensory tests or property description for a blind purchaser.
5. Owner’s ratification of an unauthorized sale and its conditions.
6. Two garments, death and prior viewing.

Next: Bab Khiyar al-Ayb, the separate remedy for defects.