What constitutes a defect (Ayb) in a sold item for financial depreciation?
Chapter on Selling the Musarrah (Animal with milk retained in udder)
Al-Mughni
Book of Sales
Primary text
A defect is any deficiency that causes a depreciation in the market value of the sold item, as the item's contractuality relies on its financial quality. The reference point for determining defects lies in the established customs and practices of merchants in that field. Defects related to physical makeup include madness, leprosy, leukoderma, blindness, one-eyedness, lameness, *afal* (a defect in the female organ), *qaran* (a growth in the vagina), *atq* (imperforation), *ratq* (narrowness of the vagina), *qar'* (baldness), deafness, dullness of hearing, muteness, and all other diseases. Also included are having an extra or missing digit, cross-eye, *khaws* (a condition of the eyelids), *sabal* (an overgrowth on the eyelids), being effeminate (*takhnith*), being hermaphroditic (*khuntha*), castration, being married when sold as a female slave, and bad breath in a female slave. This view is held by Abu Hanifa and Al-Shafi'i, and no disagreement is known on these physical defects.