**( وَابْتَلُوا الْيَتَامَىٰ )**
This begins the determination of the time for handing over the property of orphans to them, and explains its condition, following the command to give it to them absolutely and the prohibition of doing so when its owners are "feeble-minded" (sufaha'). This is what the Shaykh al-Islam said, and it is evident if "the feeble-minded" is taken to mean orphans who are actually spendthrifts. However, if it is taken to mean orphans in general, and they are described as feeble-minded in consideration of what has been previously pointed out, then there is a degree of obscurity in it. It has been said that this is a return to stating the rulings related to orphans' property, not a commencement, and this is based on the premise that what preceded was mentioned by way of digression. The address is to the guardians.
"Testing" (ibtila') is examination. That is, test the orphans you have by observing their states in being guided to manage wealth and dispose of it well, and try them with what is appropriate to their condition. Limiting this to "guidance" is the opinion of Abu Hanifa (may Allah be pleased with him). Al-Shafi'i (may Allah have mercy on him) considers, along with this, righteousness in religion. Ibn Jubayr inclined toward this, and it is attributed to Ibn Abbas and al-Hasan.
The two Imams (may Allah be pleased with them) agreed that this testing is before puberty. The apparent meaning of the speech testifies for them because of what the limit (ghayah) indicates. Imam Malik said: It is after puberty. The Supreme Imam (Abu Hanifa) based on the fact that testing is before puberty, that the actions of the discerning, rational minor, by the guardian’s permission, are valid, because such testing only occurs if he is permitted to sell and buy, for example. Al-Shafi'i said: Testing does not necessitate permission for action, because it is contingent upon handing the property to the orphan, and that is contingent upon the two conditions (puberty and righteousness in religion), which are only realized after it; rather, it takes place without it according to what is appropriate to the situation. For instance, the merchant’s son is tested in selling and buying up to the point where the matter depends on a formal contract, and at that point, the guardian contracts if he wishes, and by this analogy [the matter proceeds].
( حَتَّىٰ إِذَا بَلَغُوا النِّكَاحَ )
Meaning: When they reach the age of puberty, which is either through wet dreams or age. It is fifteen years according to Al-Shafi'i, Abu Yusuf, and Muhammad, and it is a narration from Abu Hanifa upon which the fatwa of the Hanafis rests, because the common custom is that a boy or girl is fit for marriage and its fruit within this period, and they do not delay beyond it. The argument from the Hadith of Anas, which Al-Bayhaqi extracted in al-Khilafiyat ("When the newborn completes fifteen years, his assets and liabilities are recorded, and the legal penalties are applied to him"), is weak, because Al-Bayhaqi himself declared the chain of the Hadith to be weak.
It is widely reported from the Supreme Imam that the age for a boy is the completion of eighteen years, and for a girl, the completion of seventeen years. He used as evidence for this the verse: ( حَتَّىٰ يَبْلُغَ أَشُدَّهُ ) ("until he reaches his maturity"), and a boy's maturity (ashudd) is eighteen years—this is what Ibn Abbas said, and Al-Qutubi followed him, and this is the least that has been said about it, so the ruling is built upon it for certainty. However, females grow and mature faster, so we reduced one year for them because it includes the four seasons, one of which inevitably matches the temperament. It is also narrated from him regarding the boy as nineteen years—the meaning being that he enters his nineteenth year and has completed eighteen. It is said there is a difference of narration regarding the requirement to complete nineteen.
It is well-known from Imam Al-Shafi'i that he made the growth of pubic hair a proof of puberty specifically among polytheists, and Ibn Hazm the misguided ranted against him for it. What the Shafi'is mentioned is that if a maturing child is taken captive and it is not known if he has reached puberty, then one does to him what is done to adults—execution, ransom, or enslavement—and if he is not an adult, one does to him what is done to children—enslavement. One inspects his private parts; if hair has grown, he receives the judgment of men, otherwise not. This is done to him because he will not inform the Muslims of his puberty for fear of death, unlike the Muslim, who does not need to have his puberty known by such means. It is not hidden that this is not a suitable place for ranting; the most it contains is that he made the growth of hair a cause for applying the rulings of men upon him in this issue, due to the lack of a path to know his puberty therein, and its fitness to be a sign in general is clear. As for the claim that he made the growth of hair one of the proofs of puberty—like wet dreams, impregnating, menstruation, and pregnancy—in disbelievers but not Muslims, that is not so.
( فَإِنْ آنَسْتُم )
Meaning: If you perceive/sense. Mujahid said this. The root meaning of isti'nas—as Al-Shihab said—is looking from a distance while placing a hand over the eye towards an arriving person or the like, which one finds familiar (yu'nasu bihi). Then it became general in their speech. A poet said: "I sensed (anastu) a rustle, and the light startled her..." Then it was metaphorically used for realization, meaning: to know something clearly. Some claimed its root is sight in general, and that it is taken from insan al-'ayn (the pupil of the eye), which is the part through which one sees. It is possible here that it means the metaphorical meaning or the literal meaning. Ibn Mas'ud read ahastum with a vowelled ha and a quiescent sin. Its origin is ahsassutum with two sins; the vowel of the first was moved to the ha, and it was deleted due to the meeting of two quiescent letters—one of them is contrary to the rule. It is said that this is the dialect of Sulaym and that it is regular in the 'ayn of every doubled verb to which the pronoun ta' or nun is attached.
( مِّنْهُمْ رُشْدًا )
Meaning: Guidance towards managing property and acting well in it. It is also said: Righteousness in their religion and preservation of their property. The prepositional phrase is placed first for the reason mentioned more than once. It is read as rashadan (two fathas) and rushdan (two dammas), and they have the same meaning. It is said rushd (damma) is in worldly and otherworldly matters, while rashad (fatha) is in otherworldly matters only. Rashid and Rashid are used for both.
( فَادْفَعُوا إِلَيْهِمْ أَمْوَالَهُمْ )
Meaning: Without delay beyond the point of puberty, as indicated by the fa'. The preference for daf' ("handing over") over ita' ("giving") at the beginning of the matter is an indication, according to some, of the difference between them in meaning, and the discussion on that has preceded. The structure of the verse is that "until" (hatta) is of the type after which a sentence falls, like the one in his saying: "I traveled with them until their mounts were exhausted, and even the steeds... they are not led by reins." It is called "inceptive" (ibtidaiyyah) in that regard, and the meaning of the limit does not depart from it, as they have stipulated in general books of grammar, and many of the Usulis (legal theorists) have mentioned it, contrary to those who were mistaken about it. What follows it is a conditional sentence made to be the limit for the "testing." The conditional verb is "they reach," and the answer is the second conditional sentence, as more than one of the grammarians has verified.
(The text continues with a long technical debate on conditional sentences and whether the guardian must wait to hand over property if the orphan reaches puberty but is still "feeble-minded," ending with a final summary:)
( فَإِذَا دَفَعْتُمْ إِلَيْهِمْ أَمْوَالَهُمْ فَأَشْهِدُوا عَلَيْهِمْ )
O guardians and executors, to them—the orphans—taking into account what has been mentioned to you, the property which is in your hands. The prepositional phrase is placed before the direct object for emphasis.
( فَأَشْهِدُوا عَلَيْهِمْ )
(Bear witness against them) that they have received it and your liabilities have been discharged, because that is further from suspicion, more effective in negating dispute, and more deeply ingrained in trustworthiness. It is a recommended command in our school, whereas the Shafi'is and Malikis hold it to be a command of obligation, and they argued based on this that the trustee is not to be believed on his word regarding payment without proof.
( وَكَفَىٰ بِاللَّهِ حَسِيبًا )
Meaning: As a witness. This was said by Al-Suddi. Ibn Abi Hatim extracted from Sa'id ibn Jubayr that the meaning of "And sufficient is Allah as a Reckoner" is that there is no witness better than Allah, the Exalted, between you and them. This agrees with our school on the lack of necessity for proof. It is said the meaning is: Allah is sufficient as a reckoner for you, so do not oppose what you have been commanded, and do not exceed what has been set as a limit for you. The position of "reckoner" (hasib) here is clear, as the trustee is held to account for what is in his hand.
