17 – The Book of Amicable Settlement (ṣulḥ)

An amicable settlement takes three forms: (1) a settlement accompanied by admission, (2) a settlement with silence—meaning the defendant neither admits nor denies—and (3) a settlement with outright denial. All three are permissible.

When the settlement follows an admission, the same rules that govern sales apply: if it is property for property, it is treated as a sale; if it is property for usufruct, it is treated as a lease.

A settlement reached while the defendant is silent or denying the claim is, for him, a way to buy off the oath and end the dispute, whereas for the claimant it functions as an exchange.

If the settlement is “in lieu of a house,” the right of pre-emption (shufʿah) does not arise; but if it is “over a house,” the right of pre-emption does arise.

When the settlement is based on admission and part of what was received under it is later proven to belong to someone else, the defendant may reclaim from the claimant the corresponding share of the consideration.

If the settlement is based on silence or denial and the entire object in dispute is later proven to belong to someone else, the claimant resumes litigation and returns the consideration; if only a portion is taken, he returns that portion of the consideration and proceeds with litigation over it.

If someone claims an unspecified right in a house, settles for a sum of money, and later a part of the house is proven to belong to someone else, he need not return any of the consideration, for his original claim might have pertained to what remains.

Settlement is valid in claims involving property, usufruct, and personal-injury offences—whether intentional or accidental—but it is not valid in cases involving ḥadd punishments.

If a man alleges a marriage with a woman and she denies it, yet she settles with him for a sum of money she offers