Validity of a Sale Contract Concluded After Prior Viewing of the Object

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The sale contract is valid if concluded after the object was viewed, provided a period elapsed where the object did not change, according to the majority of scholars. The basis for this ruling is that the knowledge of the object required for the contract is established through the prior viewing, making the viewing merely a means to knowledge, similar to when the object is described sufficiently to establish knowledge. Evidence supporting this is that if the parties viewed a house but stopped inside one room, or viewed land and stopped on a path, and then contracted for the whole, the sale is valid without dispute, even though the entire object was not viewed at the moment of contracting. If the object remains unchanged, the sale is binding; if it is deficient, the buyer has the option (khiyar) because the deficiency is treated as a newly occurring defect.