Book of Pledge (rahn)

A pledge is not valid unless it is concluded with an offer and an acceptance.

1. If the contract contains a condition that merely expresses what the pledge already entails—such as giving the pledgee first claim upon the pledged property—or a provision that serves the contract’s interests, like having witnesses, or even a clause that is of no consequence at all, the contract remains sound.

2. Should it stipulate something that harms the pledgee, the pledge itself is void. If the clause benefits the pledgee while harming the pledger—for example, granting the pledgee the use of the pledged article—the condition is void, and, on the stronger view, the entire pledge is likewise void.

3. If the parties stipulate that whatever increments or offspring the pledged property later produces are themselves to be pledged, the preferred opinion is that the clause is corrupt, and that whenever such a corrupt clause is present the whole contract is invalid.

4. The contracting party must have full legal capacity to dispose of property. Hence a guardian may neither pledge a minor’s or an insane person’s property, nor accept a pledge on their behalf, except in a case of necessity or manifest benefit.

5. According to the sounder view, the pledged object must be a specific tangible item (ʿayn). It is valid to pledge an undivided share, a mother without her child, and the reverse. If need demands, both mother and child are sold and the proceeds divided. The stronger view is that the mother is first appraised on her own and then together with her child; the excess represents the child’s value.

6. Pledging a slave who has committed an offense, or an apostate, is treated like selling them. Pledging a mudabbar slave (one promised freedom on the owner’s death), or a slave whose emancipation is suspended on a condition that might occur before the debt falls due, is void according to the school.

7. If one pledges property that spoils quickly, then—when possible—it must be preserved, as by drying fresh dates. Otherwise, the pledge is valid only if it secures a present debt, a deferred debt that will mature before the item spoils, or the parties have stipulated that the item be sold and its price held in pledge; in that case, the item is sold when spoilage is feared and the price becomes the pledge. If the contract expressly forbids its sale, the pledge is invalid; if it is silent, the stronger view is that it is still invalid. If it is uncertain whether the item will spoil before the term, the pledge is, on the preponderant opinion, valid.

8. If the item pledged does not ordinarily spoil quickly—even though it is capable of spoiling, such as wheat that has become damp—the pledge is never dissolved on account of that spoilage.

9. One may borrow an item in order to pledge it; according to one opinion, the borrowed object is treated as a loan for use (ʿāriyya).