Dalīl al-Ṭālib - Marʿi al-Karmi - (138)

Chapter on Loans
A loan is valid with any tangible asset whose sale is valid, except a human being.

It is required that the amount and distinguishing features be known, and that the lender1 be legally qualified to make a gratuitous disposition.

The contract is concluded by acceptance, and ownership together with liability passes upon taking possession; therefore, the lender no longer has the right to reclaim the very item loaned, and the borrower becomes immediately obliged to render its substitute. If the item is non-fungible and valued by appraisal, its value at the time of the loan2 is owed; if it is fungible, an equivalent of the same kind is owed, provided the replacement is free of defect. As for copper coins and the like which the ruler later removes from circulation, the borrower must repay their value.

It is permissible to stipulate a pledge or a guarantor for the loan. It is also permissible to loan water measured by volume, and bread or khamīr (dough) counted in units, and to have them repaid in the same number, so long as no increase is intended.

Every loan that brings about a benefit is forbidden—such as the lender letting the borrower live in his house, lending him his mount, or requiring him to repay with something better. If, however, the borrower does any of that voluntarily without a prior condition, or repays with something better without prior agreement, it is permissible.

Whenever the borrower offers the amount he owes in a place other than the lender’s town3, and there is no cost for transporting it, the lender is obliged to accept it.

(1) In manuscript “N” the reading is al-maqrud (“the loaned object,” with the definite article). (2) The wording seems to contain an ellipsis—Allah knows best—and should be understood as: “If the borrower returns the very item that was lent, the lender must accept it unless (a) it became defective while in the borrower’s possession, or (b) it consists of small coins that the ruler has withdrawn from circulation; in such cases the lender is not obliged to accept the item but may claim its market value at the time of the loan.” If, however, the lender engages in usurious transactions, the compensation must be taken in a different commodity; ponder this. (Hashiyat al-Lubadi, p. 190). (3) In manuscript “M” the reading is al-muqrid (“the lender”).

باب القرض يصح بكل عين يصح بيعها إلا بني آدم. ويشترط علم قدره ووصفه وكون مقرض١ يصح تبرعه. ويتم العقد بالقبول ويملك ويلزم بالقبض فلا يملك المقرض استرجاعه ويثبت له البدل حالا فإن كان متقوما فقيمته وقت القرض٢ وإن كان مثليا فمثله ما لم يكن معيبا أو فلوسا ونحوها فيحرمها السلطان فله القيمة. ويجوز شرط رهن وضمين فيه ويجوز قرض الماء كيلا والخبز والخمير عددا ورده عددا بلا قصد زيادة. وكل قرض جر نفعا فحرام كان يسكنه داره أو يعيره دابته أو يقضيه خيرا منه فإن فعل ذلك بلا شرط أو قضى خيرا منه بلا مواطأة جاز. ومتى بذل المقترض ما عليه بغير بلد المقرض٣ ولا مؤنة لحمله لزم.

١ في "ن" "المقروض" بأل التعريف. ٢ في العبارة – والله أعلم – حذف والتقدير: "وإن رد المقترض الفرض بعينه لزم المقرض قبوله ما لم يكن معيبا تعيب عند المقترض أو ما لم يكن فلوسا فيحرمها السلطان فلا يلزم المقترض قبوله بل له قيمته وقت قرض" لكن إن كان المقرض ربويا أخذت قيمته من غير جنسه فتأمل. حاشية اللبدي "ص: ١٩٠". ٣ في "م" "المقرض".