and by weight. These were excluded from the rules of sale because they were acts of goodwill, not transactions involving bargaining for commercial advantage. Likewise, debt transfer is permissible only as an act of goodwill. If any element of bargaining for commercial advantage enters into it, the original rule applies again, and it becomes impermissible.
Section
Three conditions must be met for a debt transfer to be permissible:
First, the creditor’s debt must be due. Otherwise, it would amount to exchanging one liability for another, falling under the prohibition of exchanging a debt for a debt. If both debts are in gold or silver, it would also fall under the prohibition of exchanging gold for gold or silver for silver except hand to hand. An exception is where the debt against which the transfer is made is due and the creditor receives payment on the spot, before the parties separate, as in currency exchange. In that case, it is permissible.
Second, the debt being transferred must match the debt against which it is transferred in amount and quality: neither less nor more, neither inferior nor superior. If it is less or more, or differs in kind or quality, the transaction is not a debt transfer but a sale involving bargaining for commercial advantage. It therefore also falls under the prohibition of exchanging a debt for a debt.
Third, the two debts must not both consist of food owed under a salam contract—advance payment for deferred delivery—nor may either one do so while the debt being transferred is not yet due, according to Ibn al-Qāsim. For the transfer to be binding on both parties, there is one condition: the creditor must not be deceived about the insolvency of the debtor to whom he is referred.
Section
Debt transfer is permissible for all debts that are equal in weight and quality, provided that the debt being transferred is due, whether they arise from a sale, a loan, or wrongful appropriation. The exception is where both debts consist of food owed under salam contracts. Neither may then be transferred against the other, whether their terms have expired or not, or payment has fallen due on