and accordingly, when the debt falls due, may the pledgee sell it? Yes, because the condition is invalid.

His statement, “or if he brings him”: the subject is the pledgor, and the object is the pledgee.

His statement, “his due by such-and-such a time, otherwise the pledged property belongs to him—the condition alone is invalid”: in “his due,” the pronoun refers to the pledgee, and what is due is the debt. If he brings him what is due to him within the stipulated time, the pledge is released; but if he does not bring him what is due to him by the specified time, the pledge remains as it was and the debt remains as it was, because the condition is invalid.

An example is a man who pledges a car to someone and says, “Take this car as a pledge from me. If I bring you what is due to you on the first day of Ramadan, [then it is released]; otherwise, the car is yours.” The other replies, “There is no objection.” Yet this condition is invalid. Thus, if the first day of Ramadan arrives and he has not paid what is due to him, the car remains pledged and the debt remains owed by the pledgor—as though nothing had happened.

The evidence is the Prophet’s statement: “A pledge is not forfeited from its owner” (1)—meaning, it is not taken from him by force. The reasoning is that this is a contingent sale, whereas one of the conditions of a sale is that it be concluded outright; thus, a contingent sale is invalid.

As for the hadith, “A pledge is not forfeited from its owner,” in this case the pledge has not been forfeited from its owner. The forfeiture of a pledge from its owner is when the debt falls due and he does not