The second section: A calamity (ja'ihah) is every blight in which there is no action by a human being, such as wind, frost, locusts, and thirst; because of what al-Saji narrated with his chain of transmission from Jabir, that the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) issued a judgment regarding the calamity (ja'ihah). A calamity can occur in frost, locusts, 'habaq', floods, and wind. This is an interpretation by the narrator of the Prophet’s (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) statement, and it is necessary to refer to it. As for that which is caused by a human act, al-Qadi said: The buyer has the option between annulling the contract and demanding the price from the seller, or remaining with it and demanding the value from the perpetrator, because it is possible to seek restitution with its substitute, unlike that which is destroyed by a calamity.

The third section: The apparent [position of the] school of thought is that there is no difference between a small calamity and a large one, except that which is customary to be destroyed, such as a small amount that is not measurable, for which no attention is paid. Ahmad said: I do not say this regarding ten or twenty fruits, and I do not know what a third is, but if it is a known calamity—a third, a fourth, or a fifth—it is deducted. There is another narration that what is less than a third is at the risk of the buyer; this is the school of Malik and al-Shafi'i in his 'old' opinion, because it is inevitable that birds will eat some of it, the wind will scatter some, and some will fall, so there must be a single standard distinguishing that from a calamity. We have seen that the Sharia has considered the 'third' in several places, among them: wills, gifts made by a sick person, and the equality of a woman’s wounds to a man’s wounds up to a third. Al-Athram said: Ahmad said: They apply the 'third' in seventeen issues. Also, because the 'third' is at the limit of a large amount, and whatever is below it is at the limit of a small amount, as evidenced by the saying of the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) regarding a will: "The third, and the third is a lot." This indicates that it is the upper limit of what is 'much', and therefore it was measured by it. The reasoning for the first [position] is the general nature of the hadiths, for the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) ordered the reduction for calamities, and what is less than a third is included in it, so it must be reduced. Also, because this fruit had not been completely possessed, so whatever of it was destroyed is from the seller’s wealth, even if it is small, like that which is on the ground. What birds eat or what falls does not have an effect according to custom, nor is it called a calamity, so it does not enter under the report, and it is not possible to guard against it; its existence is known according to custom, so it is as if it were a condition. Once this is established, if something of a measurable amount beyond the custom is destroyed, he shall reduce the price according to the amount that is gone. If everything is destroyed, the contract is invalidated, and the buyer regains the entire price. As for the other narration, he considers the third of the amount, and it was said: the third of the value. If everything is destroyed, or more than a third, he regains the value of everything that was destroyed.