Permitted person (mazun): permission to trade and its limits

المَأْذُون

Mazun, the past participle of adhina, means one to whom permission is given; the jurists drop the complement and say the permitted slave. In technical use it is a person whose restriction is lifted and who is permitted to trade and deal, by his master if a slave or by his guardian if a minor ¹. Most jurists allow permission to such a person when a reason exists; the preferred Shafi'i view is that a minor may not be permitted to trade, his guardian making the contract instead ¹. Permission is limited by time, place and kind of transaction; the Hanafis widen a narrow permission, the Malikis make it subject to the guardian's approval, and the Hanbalis hold the permission to what the guardian set ². A permitted minor's dealings are of three kinds: pure benefit, pure harm, and in between. Accepting an unconditional gift is valid by most jurists; a harmful dealing is not valid even with permission; an exchange made before permission is suspended on the guardian's approval for the Hanafis and Malikis, and after permission the schools differ ³. The Hanafis and Malikis validate a permitted fool's sales; the Shafi'is, in the preferred view, do not ⁴. If the permitting person dies, a father's guardianship ends and the permission lapses, and a guardian's trusteeship ends with his death ⁴.