Ratification, licence (ijaza)

In the lexicon, ijaza means to put into effect: one says ajaza al-shay' when one carries it out. Jurists keep this sense. ¹

Ratification in this sense always follows the act, unlike permission, which comes before it. ¹ Its elements are a transaction whose maker acted without authority, such as an unauthorised agent (fudul); a ratifier who has the power to dispose of the matter; and knowledge that the object still exists. ^{1 2}

If the owner ratifies after the unauthorised agent has died, the ratification is valid, since the agent was only a messenger and no rights of the contract return to him. ² A minor's divorce, which had no ratifier when it was pronounced, is not ratified after he comes of age, according to the majority, since a guardian has no power to divorce a minor's wife. ⁶ Ratification does not reach acts of destruction, so a guardian cannot ratify the gift of a minor's property once he comes of age if the gift is a destructive donation. The Hanbalis allow a father to take his son's property. ³

Ratification may be by a wording that could express ratification or something else; the circumstances then decide, and absent such signs the word is taken in its literal sense. Writing or a clear sign replaces speech when speech is impossible. ⁴ It may also be by act, by any act that would count as acceptance in a contract, by the passage of a fixed time in a time-limited transaction such as the option period, or by strong signs. A virgin who is adult and who smiles, is silent, or takes her dowry, after being told of her marriage, is taken to have ratified it; loud weeping signals refusal. ⁴

An apostate's transactions are suspended according to Abu Hanifa, Malik, the Hanbalis and one Shafi'i view; if he returns to Islam they take effect. The two companions of Abu Hanifa and one Shafi'i view hold them effective. ⁷

Ijaza can mean a gift, such as a ruler's reward for work. ⁵ It can mean licence to issue fatwas or to teach, which a person may give only if he knows the Qur'an, the Sunna, the reports and the methods of jurisprudence, and is just and trusted. ⁵ It can mean licence to transmit a report: the majority of hadith scholars allow transmission by licence and hold that a report so transmitted must be acted on, though some earlier jurists refused. ⁵