Book of Acknowledgment

An acknowledgment is valid when it is issued by a legally accountable person who acts voluntarily and is not under interdiction. It is invalid if elicited by coercion; nevertheless, if he was compelled to weigh out a sum of money and therefore sold his property to raise it, the sale itself is valid.

If¹ a person makes an acknowledgment while ill, it carries the same legal weight as an acknowledgment² made in good health—except when the acknowledgment concerns money owed to an heir, in which case it is not accepted. If he acknowledges the bridal dower (ṣadaq) of his wife, she is entitled to the customary equivalent mahr (mahr al-mithl) by virtue of the marriage, not because of his acknowledgment; and even if he further claims that he had divorced her irrevocably while he was healthy, that does not deprive her of the right to inherit from him.

If he acknowledges a debt to someone who is an heir but, at the moment of death, that person has become a non-heir, the acknowledgment remains unenforceable—not³ because it is intrinsically void. Conversely, if he acknowledges—or gives something—to a non-heir⁴, the act is valid even if that person later becomes an heir at the time of death.

If a woman herself declares that she is married and two men are not simultaneously claiming her⁵, her statement is accepted. Likewise, if her guardian—or an agent she has authorised—acknowledges the marriage, it is valid.

If a man acknowledges that a minor or an insane person of unknown parentage is his son, the child’s lineage to him is thereby confirmed⁶. Should the child have died previously, the man inherits from him. And if he brings a claim against another person and that person confirms it