or, “Whatever he may seize from you by force, the liability is on me.”
If a man states, “I stand surety for whatever he owes you,” and evidence is later produced that the debt amounts to one thousand, the surety must pay that sum. If no proof is brought, the surety’s word—supported by an oath—prevails for the amount he acknowledges.
Should the principal debtor later confess to owing more than that, his admission does not bind the surety.
Suretyship is valid whether undertaken with the debtor’s authorization or without it. When the surety acts with the debtor’s authorization, he may seek reimbursement for whatever he pays; if he acted without authorization, he has no right of recourse.
The surety may not demand payment from the debtor before actually settling the debt himself. Yet if he is pressed to pay, he may keep close to the debtor until the latter discharges the obligation and frees him.
If the creditor releases the debtor or collects the debt from him, the surety is discharged; but if he releases the surety, the debtor remains liable.
The discharge of a surety may not be made contingent upon a condition.
Any claim that cannot be exacted from a surety cannot be the subject of suretyship, such as prescribed ḥudūd penalties or retributive punishment (qiṣāṣ). If one guarantees the buyer’s liability for the price, the guarantee is valid; if he guarantees the seller’s obligation to deliver the goods, it is not.
When someone hires a specific animal to carry a load, guaranteeing that the load will be transported is invalid; if the animal is unspecified, such a guarantee is valid.
In principle, a guarantee is only valid when the creditor accepts it in the same session in which it is offered—save in one exceptional case: a sick person may tell his heir, “Stand surety for the debt I owe,” and the heir may do so even though the creditors are absent.
If two people are jointly liable for a debt and each is also surety for the other, whatever one of them pays cannot be reclaimed from his partner until his payment exceeds one-half of the total; he may then recover the excess.
If two persons guarantee a man’s debt of one thousand, with each of them also guaranteeing the other, then whatever either one is obliged to pay, he may recover half of it from his fellow—whether the amount paid is small or large.
Suretyship is not valid for a slave’s manumission price (the money of kitāba), whether the surety is free or enslaved.
If a man dies indebted, leaving no property, and another person offers to stand surety for him to the creditors, the suretyship is invalid according to Abū Ḥanīfa; Abū Yūsuf and Muḥammad, however, deem it valid.