If the usurper mixes the seized goods with other items that can still be distinguished—such as mixing wheat with barley—he is obliged to separate them and return the owner’s portion. If he mixes them with indistinguishable goods of the very same kind, he must return an equivalent amount—by measure or by weight—from unmixed stock. Should he mix them with something inferior, with something superior, or with a different commodity in a way that cannot be distinguished, the entire mixture is sold and each party receives from the price the share that corresponds to his portion; if, in this situation, the usurped share ends up worth less than it would have been by itself, the usurper must make up the shortfall.

Among the principles the jurists mention in this chapter is their maxim: “Every hand that follows the usurper’s hand is a hand of liability.” In other words, every possessor to whom the usurped property is transferred through the usurper is liable for it if it perishes while with him. These ten kinds of possession are:

1. The hand of the buyer and those in a similar position;
2. the hand of the lessee;
3. the hand of one who takes possession by way of ownership without consideration, such as a donee;
4. the hand of one who receives it for the benefit of the transferor, like an agent;
5. the hand of the borrower;
6. the hand of a subsequent usurper;
7. the hand of one authorized to transact with the property, such as a mudarib (investment manager);
8. the hand of the person who marries the usurped woman;
9. the hand of one who takes possession as compensation by a means other than sale; and
10. the hand of the person who destroys the usurped property on behalf of the original usurper.

In all these cases, if the second possessor knows the true situation—that the one who handed the property over was a usurper—the final liability rests upon him, for he has transgressed against property that he knows the owner did not authorize. If he is unaware of the matter, the liability remains with the first usurper.

Whenever the usurped item is something that is customarily rented out, the usurper must also pay its normal rental value for the entire period it remained in his possession, because usufruct is a form of transferable wealth and therefore must be guaranteed just as the physical item itself is guaranteed.