the agent, because the payer has accepted his claim to have been appointed as an agent. If one holds that the principal’s statement is to be accepted, the agent is liable. This accords with the Book of Deposits in al-Mudawwana and with the positions of Ashhab and Ibn al-Qāsim in Sahnūn’s transmission in the Book of Loans for Use. If the principal seeks recovery from the agent, the agent has no recourse against anyone, and the debtor is discharged. If the principal seeks recovery from the debtor, the debtor may recover from the agent. If, however, one holds that the agent’s statement is to be accepted because the debtor accepted his claim when paying him—which is Ibn al-Qāsim’s position in ‘Īsā’s transmission from him in the Book of Loans for Use—then the debtor’s right to recover from the agent after being required to pay is subject to the disagreement already mentioned between Mutarrif and Ibn al-Mājishūn.

Section

As for payment to someone who assumes personal liability, the recipient is either solvent or financially ruined. If he is solvent, the payer is discharged by the recipient’s confirmation, by agreement. If he is financially ruined, the payer is not discharged by the recipient’s confirmation when the latter claims that the property was lost, unless the payer produces evidence of payment. This, in my view, is what accords with their positions. I know of no explicit disagreement concerning it, unless the disagreement concerning property held in trust is extended to it by analogy.

There are thus four cases: payment of a debt to someone who assumes personal liability; transfer of entrusted property to someone who receives it in trust; transfer of entrusted property to someone who assumes personal liability; and payment of a debt to someone who receives it in trust. All of these have already been discussed, section by section and case by case.

Section

There is disagreement concerning an agent, whether granted general authority or not, who claims to have handed over to his principal what he collected on his behalf from his debtors, while the principal denies this. Ibn al-Qāsim reported from Mālik in the Book of Merchandise and Agency that the agent’s statement is accepted upon his oath, without qualification or distinction. The same appears in the Book of Agency in al-Mudawwana. Mutarrif reported from Mālik that if the matter arose at the very time the money was received, or