dirhams, and then pays off the portion corresponding to one of them, he may not take that slave back until the balance of the debt is settled.

If the pledger appoints the mortgagee, the neutral custodian, or any other person as his agent to sell the pledge when the debt falls due, the agency is valid. Should this agency be stipulated in the contract of pledge itself, the pledger has no right to dismiss the agent; any dismissal he attempts is ineffective, and the agency is not terminated by the pledger’s death.

The mortgagee may sue the pledger for the debt and may detain him until it is paid. If the pledge is already in the mortgagee’s hand, he need not allow the pledger to sell it until the debt is satisfied out of its price; once the debt is discharged, the mortgagee is told, “Hand the pledge back to him.”

If the pledger sells the pledged property without the mortgagee’s permission, the sale remains in suspense: it becomes valid if the mortgagee ratifies it, or if the pledger repays the debt.

Should the pledger free a pledged slave, the manumission stands. If the debt is immediately due, he must pay it at once; if the debt is deferred, the value of the slave is taken from him and held as a pledge in the slave’s place until maturity. If the pledger is insolvent, the slave is made to earn his own value, which is then used to settle the debt.

The same ruling applies if the pledger destroys the pledge. If a third party destroys it, the mortgagee alone may claim compensation; he receives its value, which then becomes a pledge in his hand. Damage caused to the pledge by the pledger is his liability; damage caused by the mortgagee is deducted from the debt in proportion to the loss; any harm the pledge itself causes to the pledger, the mortgagee, or their property is legally disregarded.

The rent of the place where the pledge is stored is borne by the mortgagee, whereas the herdsman’s wages and the pledge’s upkeep are on the pledger. Any increase or progeny belongs to the pledger, yet it, too, becomes pledged together with the original asset.

If that increase perishes, no compensation is owed. If the original pledge perishes while the increase survives, the pledger redeems the increase for its share of the debt. The debt is apportioned according to the value of the pledge on the day of delivery and the value of the increase on the day of release: whatever is assigned to the original is written off the debt, and whatever is assigned to the increase is redeemed by the pledger.

According to Abū Ḥanīfah and Muḥammad, one may increase the pledged property but not the debt, and the additional property does not itself enter into pledge. Abū Yūsuf, however, permits an increase in the debt as well.

If a single item is pledged to two creditors for separate debts, the transaction is valid: the whole item is pledged to each of them, yet each is liable only for his share of the debt. If one creditor is paid, the entire item remains pledged to the other until he receives his due.

Whoever sells a slave on condition that the buyer pledge a specific item for the price: if the buyer refuses to deposit the pledge, he cannot be compelled to do so, and the seller may either waive the pledge or annul the sale—unless the buyer pays the price immediately or provides another pledge of equal value in its stead.

The mortgagee may keep the pledge in his own custody or entrust it to his wife.