—until he discharges what he owes. Should he persist in procrastination, the judge steps in, sells his property, and settles his debts from the proceeds, for the judge stands in the place of one who refuses to act and must remove the harm befalling the creditors. The Prophet ﷺ said, “There is to be no harm and no reciprocating harm.”

From what has preceded it becomes clear that a debtor falls into one of two broad situations:

1. A deferred debt. In this case, he cannot be required to pay until the term matures, nor is he obliged to settle it beforehand. Even if the cash he holds is less than the total of his deferred obligations, he is not to be placed under interdiction or prevented from disposing of his assets.

2. An immediate (due) debt. Here the debtor himself is of two kinds:

   a. His assets exceed what he owes. Such a person is not interdicted, but he is instructed to pay once the creditor demands it. If he refuses, he is imprisoned and chastised until he settles the debt. If he endures imprisonment and punishment yet still declines to pay, the judge intervenes, liquidates whatever must be sold, and settles the debt from his property.

   b. His assets are less than the amount of debt now due. At the creditors’ request he is interdicted from disposing of his property so that he cannot defraud them. This is based on the report of Kaʿb ibn Mālik ﵁ that “the Messenger of Allah ﷺ placed Muʿādh under interdiction and sold his property,” narrated by al-Dāraqutnī and al-Ḥākim, who deemed it authentic. Ibn al-Ṣalāḥ likewise said, “It is an established hadith.”