one of them but not the other; for this would involve selling food before taking possession of it, whether or not the original payments under the two salam contracts were equal. This is Ibn al-Qāsim’s position, contrary to Ashhab, who held that if the original payments were equal, the debt transfer would be permissible and would constitute a resale at cost. If one debt arises from a loan and the other from a salam contract, neither may be transferred against the other until both have fallen due. This is Ibn al-Qāsim’s position.

Ibn Habīb related in al-Wādiha, from a number of Mālik’s companions other than Ibn al-Qāsim, that these two debts are treated as though both arose from loans: either may be transferred against the other once the debt being transferred has fallen due.

Section

With respect to the debt against which he is referred, the creditor assumes both the position of the person who referred him and his own position regarding the debt being transferred. This governs what he may accept from the debtor in settlement, or receive in exchange for selling the debt to someone else.

Thus, if food owed to him under a loan is transferred against food owed under a salam contract, or food owed to him under a salam contract is transferred against food owed under a loan, he may not sell it to anyone else before taking possession of it. If the transfer is from a loan debt to a salam debt, he may not sell it before taking possession because he assumes the position of the person who referred him. If the transfer is from a salam debt to a loan debt, he may not sell it before taking possession because he retains the position he held regarding the food debt being transferred. He may accept from the debtor only the food for which he was referred, or the exact equivalent of the original salam payment; in the latter case, the transaction amounts to a mutual rescission.

If both debts arise from loans, he may sell the food before taking possession of it, whether to the debtor himself or to anyone else, for anything for which food owed under a loan may lawfully be sold. This is because he was entitled to sell the food debt being transferred, and the person who referred him was entitled to sell the food debt against which he referred him, since both arose from loans. The same applies if he accepts a debt transfer in settlement of goods owed to him