We were told by Abu’l-Hussain, Muhammed bin Harun al-Zanjani, that he said: We were told by Ali bin Abdul-Aziz, from Qasem bin Salam, that he said: A beast is an animal, and it was named a beast [1] because it does not speak, and everything that is unable to speak is a’jam [2] and musta’jam. From this stems the saying of Hasan, peace be upon him: «The prayer of the daytime is ‘ajma.» He is saying: Recitation shall not be heard during it. As for jubar, it is to kill in vain. The wound of a beast was only declared to be vain in the case it is loose, having to leader, nor puller, nor rider. If one of these three was with it, he is a guarantor, because the offense therein would not be (legally made) to the beast, but it would only be an offense to its owner who allowed people to ride it. As for his saying: «a well is a jubar» it has more than one saying. It is said: It refers to a well whose owner hires a man to dig it in his property, and it collapses on the digger. Hence, there is no assurance upon its owner. It is also said: It is a well that is in a man’s ownership, and a human or an animal fall into it. Hence, there is no assurance upon him, because it is in his ownership.

Qasem bin Salam said: According to me, it is an ordinary well to which it is not known any (particular) digger, nor owner, but which lies in a valley, and so a human or an animal fall into it. Hence, that is (considered to be) a vain death. It is like a man who is found killed in an open land, by which it is not known for him any killer. Hence, there is no retaliation, nor indemnity for him. As for his saying: « metal is a jubar» they are these metals from which gold and silver are extracted, by which some people would come to dig them up for them for a defined thing [1], and the metal would perhaps collapse on them and kill them. Hence, their blood were shed in vain, because they only worked in return for a reward. As for his saying: «and there shall be one-fifth for rikaz», the people of Iraq and the people of Hijaz have disputed with regards to rikaz. The people of Iraq have said that rikaz refers to metals, all of it, and the people of Hijaz have said that rikaz refers exclusively to buried property among what the sons of Adam have stored before Islam.