or Coptic year, and both parties know that, it is valid, and it consists of three hundred and sixty-five days. The Roman months consist of seven months of thirty-one days each, four months of thirty days each, and one month of twenty-eight days. The Coptic months are all thirty days each, and they added five days to their year so that it would equal the Roman year. If one of the two parties is ignorant of this, it is not valid, because the duration is unknown to him. If he hires it until 'the festival' (Eid), it refers to the one that follows, and attaches to its first part; because he made it the limit, so the hire period ends with its beginning. Al-Qadi said: The festival must be specified, whether it is Al-Fitr or Al-Adha, and of this year or such-and-such a year. The same ruling applies if he attaches it to a month that shares its name with two months, such as Jumada and Rabi'; it is mandatory, according to his view, to specify the first or the second, of such-and-such a year. If he attaches it to a singular month, such as Rajab or Sha'ban, he must specify which year it is from. If he attaches it to a day, he must, according to his view, specify which week it is from. If he attaches it to one of the festivals of the disbelievers, it is valid if both know it, otherwise it is not valid; something similar to this has already been mentioned.

Section: It is not a condition for the period of the hire that it immediately follows the contract. Rather, if he hires it for the year five, while they are in the year three, or for the month of Rajab during Muharram, it is valid; this is the view of Abu Hanifah. Al-Shafi'i said: It is not valid unless (6) he hires it from one who currently has it under hire, and regarding this there are two opinions, because it is a contract for something that cannot be delivered at the present moment, so it resembles the hiring of a usurped tangible asset. He said: It is not permissible to hire a specific camel except when it is time for departure for that reason. Our position is that it is (7) a duration for which a contract is permissible with others, so a contract for it in isolation is permissible with the general public, just like that which follows the contract. The capacity for delivery is only required at the time the delivery is due, like a salam (advance payment) sale; neither the existence of the item nor the capacity for it at the time of the contract is required. There is no difference whether it is occupied or unoccupied, due to what we have mentioned, and what he mentioned (8) is invalidated