He answered, “In those days a man would say, ‘If you beat me, you will receive such-and-such,’ but he would never say, ‘If I beat you, I shall have such-and-such, and if you beat me, you will have such-and-such.’” (1)

Ibn Abī al-Dunyā relates in his work al-Sabaq: Ḥamzah ibn ʿAbbās informed us, ʿAlī ibn Sufyān informed us, ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Mubārak narrated to us, Sufyān reported from al-Aʿmash, from Ibrāhīm, who said, “They saw no harm in a man’s saying, ‘If you beat me, you will receive such-and-such,’ but they disliked his saying, ‘If I beat you, you must give such-and-such.’” (2)(3)

Section
Another group maintained that offering the stake is one of the noble traits of character; therefore, should he be defeated, a judge may not compel him to pay it, nor enforce it as he would enforce obligatory dues or monetary liabilities. Rather, it is like a mere promise: if he wishes, he may honor it, and if not, he is not forced to fulfill it. (4)