Chapter on Claims and Evidence

The claimant is one who, if he remains silent, is left alone; whereas the defendant is one who, if he remains silent, is not left alone.

Neither a claim nor a denial is valid except from one legally competent to dispose of his affairs.

The author’s statement, “Claims,” or daʿāwī, is the plural of daʿwā (claim), which linguistically means a request. Allah says, “And therein they shall have whatever they ask for” [Quran 36:57]—that is, whatever they seek. Technically, it means that a person ascribes to himself something owed by another, whether that thing is a tangible object, a benefit, a right, or a debt.

Such ascription is of three types:

The first is for a person to ascribe to himself something owed by another. This is a claim—for example, for him to say, “So-and-so owes me such-and-such,” whether it is an object, a benefit, a right, or a debt: these are four categories.

The second is for a person to ascribe to another something owed by himself. This is an admission.

The third is for a person to ascribe to one person something owed by another. This is testimony. These, then, are the types of ascription.

We are discussing the first type: for a person to ascribe to himself something owed by another. That thing may be an object, a benefit, a debt, or a right.

An example of an object is for him to say: “I claim against so-and-so that this book, bag, or other item in his possession belongs to me.”

An example of a benefit is: “I claim against him that I rented him a house for one month.”

An example of a debt is for him to say: “I claim that he owes me one hundred riyals.”