negation. Thus, no small or large portion of the debt is waived if all or part of the pledged property is destroyed. It should be noted, however, that nothing is waived if this occurs without transgression or negligence. But if it occurs through transgression or negligence, the pledgee is held liable for compensation; in that case, an amount equivalent to what he is liable to pay must be deducted from the debt. The discussion, however, concerns the case where he has neither transgressed nor been negligent: nothing of the debt is waived by the destruction of the pledged property, because the two matters are independent. This is a security pledge, whereas the debt is an established liability; therefore, they do not offset one another.
Another example: a man pledges five sheep of approximately equal value against a debt of five hundred riyals, and one of them dies. Is one hundred riyals waived in exchange for it?
The answer is no, because the two matters are independent. If two of them die, the full five hundred remains due, and so on.
Whatever is destroyed of the pledged property does not reduce the debt, unless the pledgee has transgressed or been negligent. In that case, he is liable, and the amount is deducted from the debt, unless he pays it separately.
If the pledgee waives it—that is, if he takes pity on the pledgor whose pledged property has been destroyed and remits part of his debt—this is permissible, because the right belongs to him. Indeed, he is to be praised and thanked for consoling his brother by remitting part of the debt in return for what was destroyed.
His statement, “If part of it is destroyed, the remainder remains pledged for the entire debt,” means: if part of the pledged property is destroyed, what remains continues to serve as collateral. But is it collateral only for the corresponding portion of the debt, or for the entire debt?
The answer is: for the entire debt.
For example, a man pledges ten sheep against a debt of one hundred riyals. Five of the ten sheep die, leaving five. Do we say that these five