Al-Muqaddimāt al-Mumahhidāt - Ibn Rush al-Jadd - (3/25)

Al-Muqaddimāt al-MumahhidātIbn Rush al-Jadd

with the two hundred. On this calculation, the working partner’s share in them is one quarter. If the capital provider has the means, he must pay the working partner the value of one quarter of the slave as assessed on the day of judgment, and the slave is emancipated in full. If he lacks the means, one quarter remains enslaved and belongs to the working partner, just as when one of two joint owners emancipates his share of a slave. This is the meaning and intent of the statement in the book.

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As for purchasing them knowingly, the book states that they are emancipated at the working partner’s expense if he has the means, and their purchase price is recovered from him. This means the price for which he purchased them, even if their value exceeds it, because the capital provider cannot validly make a profit on someone who becomes free upon entering his ownership. This differs from the case in which the working partner knowingly purchases someone who becomes free upon entering his own ownership, and whose value exceeds the purchase price. In that case, he must pay the capital provider his capital and his share of the profit, because the profit concerns someone who does not become free upon entering the capital provider’s ownership.

The ruling just mentioned concerning someone who knowingly purchases the capital provider’s father applies where there was no profit in the funds. If, however, there was a profit before the purchase—for example, the capital was one hundred, he made another hundred in profit, and then purchased them for two hundred—the full purchase price is not recovered from him. Rather, only the capital provider’s capital and share of the profit are recovered, amounting to one hundred and fifty.

The book also states: “If he lacks the means, they are sold, and the capital provider is given his capital and his profit.” This means that the profit existed on the day of purchase. For example, the capital might be one hundred and increase through profit to two hundred, after which the working partner knowingly purchases them with the entire two hundred. Enough of them is then sold to yield one hundred and fifty—the capital provider’s capital and share of the profit—and whatever portion remains is emancipated, whether it is less or more than one quarter of the slave.

For if the slave is worth more than two hundred, no portion of him may validly be sold for the capital provider’s benefit beyond what yields one hundred and fifty, since that is the amount of the capital provider’s funds that the working partner wrongfully used. The capital provider is not entitled to any part of the increase in the slave’s value after the purchase, because he cannot validly own him and therefore cannot validly make a profit on him. If the slave is worth less than two hundred, the capital provider is entitled to have enough of him sold to yield one hundred and fifty, even if this requires selling the entire slave, because that is the amount of his funds that was wrongfully used. If the slave is worth less than one hundred and fifty, he must be sold in full, and the working partner remains liable for the shortfall below one hundred and fifty.

All of this is the meaning and intent of the statement in the book. As noted, this is a question over which there is disagreement: some of the differing views appear in al-Mudawwana, and others elsewhere.

بالمائتين فيصيب العامل منهم على هذا التنزيل الربع فيغرم رب المال للعامل قيمة ربع العبد يوم الحكم إن كان له مال ويعتق كله عليه، وإن لم يكن له مال بقي ربعه رقيقا للعامل بمنزلة العبد بين الشريكين يعتق أحدهما نصيبه. هذا معنى قوله في الكتاب وإرادته. فصل وأما إذا اشتراهم وهو عالم فقال في الكتاب إنهم يعتقون على العامل إن كان له مال ويؤخذ منه ثمنهم، يريد الثمن الذي اشتراهم به وإن كانت قيمتهم أكثر مما اشتراهم به، لأنه لا يجوز لرب المال أن يربح فيمن يعتق عليه، بخلاف إذا اشترى العامل من يعتق عليه وهو عالم وقيمته أكثر مما ابتاعه به فإنه يغرم هاهنا رأس المال وحصته من الربح، لأن الربح فيمن لا يعتق عليه. وهذا في الذي يشتري أبا رب المال وهو عالم إن لم يكن في المال ربح. وأما إن كان في المال ربح قبل الشراء، مثل أن يكون رأس المال مائة فيربح فيه مائة أخرى ثم يشتريهم بمائتين فلا يؤخذ منه جميع الثمن وإنما يؤخذ منه رأس مال رب المال وحصته من الربح وذلك مائة وخمسون. وقال في الكتاب: وإن لم يكن له مال بيعوا فأعطي رب المال رأس ماله وربحه، يريد أن الربح كان فيه يوم الشراء، وذلك مثل أن يكون رأس المال مائة فيصير بالربح فيها مائتين ثم يبتاعهم بجميع المائتين وهو عالم، فإنه يباع منهم بمائة وخمسين رأس مال رب المال وحصته من الربح، ويعتق ما فضل كان أقل من ربع العبد أو أكثر، لأنه إن ساوى العبد أكثر من مائتين لم يصح أن يباع لرب المال منه بأكثر من مائة وخمسين، لأن ذلك هو الذي تعدى له عليها العامل، ولم يصح له أن يأخذ مما زادت قيمته بعد الشراء شيئا، لأنه لا يصح له ملكه فلم يصح له الربح فيه. وإن ساوى العبد أقل من مائتين فمن حق رب المال أن يباع له من العبد بمائة وخمسين وإن اغترق ذلك جميع العبد، لأنه تعدى له على ذلك القدر. ولم يساو العبد إلا أقل من مائة وخمسين لوجب أن يباع كله ويتبع العامل بما نقص من مائة وخمسين. وهذا كله معنى قوله في الكتاب وإرادته فيه، وهي مسألة قد اختلف فيها كما ذكر، والاختلاف بعضه في المدونة وبعضه خارج عنها.