act of worship or transaction is valid only when its conditions are fulfilled and its impediments are absent. Once it is valid, it transfers the claim from the liability of the transferor to that of the assigned debtor, and the transferor is fully discharged.

A debt transfer differs from a guarantee. As mentioned previously, a guarantee does not transfer the claim; thus, the claim is not transferred from the liability of the guaranteed party to that of the guarantor. The same applies to suretyship. A debt transfer, however, transfers the claim from the liability of the transferor to that of the assigned debtor, and the transferor remains discharged.

However, here—as in every contract—the contracting party must be legally competent to dispose of property. Likewise, every contract must be concluded by its owner or by someone acting in his place. These two conditions accompany every contract: sales, endowments, pledges, gifts, marriages, and others.

If it is assumed that the assigned debtor becomes insolvent, may the creditor return to the transferor?

The answer is no, because the claim has been transferred and the transferor has been fully discharged.

His statement, “When valid, it transfers the claim to the liability of the assigned debtor, and the transferor is discharged”: the evidence for this is the Prophet’s statement: “Whoever is transferred, regarding his debt, to a solvent person, let him accept the transfer” (1)—that is, let him move from the transferor to the assigned debtor. Thus, if a man owes one hundred thousand and transfers the debt to another person, and the conditions are fulfilled, then the assigned debtor later becomes poor, the creditor has no right to return to the transferor. The transferor may say: “I transferred you, and the transfer was completed. Once completed, it transfers the claim from the liability of the transferor to that of the assigned debtor.”