Likewise, if someone comes to me and says, “You owe me one hundred dirhams,” and I reply, “You are owed nothing by me,” then this denial of mine may be based on knowledge, forgetfulness, or ignorance. That is, I do not know whether the person claiming from me is so-and-so or someone else. The point is that he has made a claim against me, and I have denied it—whether knowingly, out of ignorance, or through forgetfulness. Nevertheless, I say: “Since you are making this claim against me and I do not acknowledge it, let us reach a settlement: instead of the one hundred dirhams, I will give you fifty dirhams.” This is permissible, the settlement takes effect, and each party becomes bound by what they have agreed upon. Hence the author says: “Then, if he settles for payment, it is valid.”
His statement, “for payment,” includes both immediate and deferred payment. Even if he settles in exchange for a benefit—for example, by saying, “I will settle with you on the condition that you may live in my house for a month”—this is permissible, because a lawful benefit is a form of property.
But does this fall under the category of release from a debt, or under that of sale? The answer is:
“It is a sale with respect to the claimant: he may return its defective item, rescind the settlement, and it may be taken from him through pre-emption. With respect to the other party, however, it is a release; thus, there is neither return nor pre-emption. If either of them is lying, it is not valid in his own case before Allah, and whatever he takes is unlawful …”
His statement, “It is a sale with respect to the claimant,” means that if he claims that this recorder belongs to him, and the other person says, “It does not belong to you,” and they then settle for payment, the claimant believes that he has transferred his property to this person in exchange for compensation. The settlement is therefore valid, but it is a sale with respect to the claimant, because he believes that what he claimed is his rightful due and that his property has passed to the other party in exchange for compensation. This is the reality of a sale. Thus, it is a sale for him; and since it is a sale for him, then:
“He may return its defective item, rescind the settlement, and it may be taken from him through pre-emption,” because it is a sale,