the value at the time of its destruction, without any disagreement, because the item itself is no longer being returned. We therefore consider: when did liability for its value arise? It arose at the time it perished, when it was worth two hundred, even though—had it still existed—its value would now be one hundred.
However, it may be argued that this usurper prevented the owner from access to his property until its price fell; he is therefore wrongdoing. In reality, a fall in price is a diminution of an attribute, for price is the value of a commodity, and value is indeed regarded as an attribute. For this reason, the sound view is that if the price falls, the usurper is liable for the loss. Thus, we say: he must return the item to its owner together with the amount by which its price has fallen.
If a man usurps a book worth fifty riyals, then returns it a month or two later when it is worth forty riyals, then—according to the school—he is not liable for the fall in price. But if the book has depreciated through use, he is liable for that depreciation. According to the sound view, however, he is liable for the fall in price: he returns the book along with ten riyals, and he must also pay compensation for the depreciation caused by using the book. This was the view preferred by Shaykh al-Islam and our Shaykh, Abd al-Rahman al-Sa'di—may Allah have mercy on them both—and it is correct. Indeed, this view ought to be regarded as decisive, because if we say that a fall in price is not compensable, an aggressor may assault someone by usurping his property and holding it until prices decline, then hand it over to its owner. There is no doubt that he is liable in such a case, because he deliberately intended to cause harm to the owner through the fall in price. This is unlike one who usurps it and keeps it in order to use it or for some other reason, without it ever occurring to him that he wished to harm the owner through a fall in price; such a case is less serious.
His statement: “Nor for an illness whose effects are removed by recovery,” means: nor is he liable for depreciation caused by an illness.