and if the borrower embraces Islam, it has been held that his loan obligation is extinguished. This is Mālik’s position—may Allah have mercy on him—in al-Wādiha. It has also been held that he must pay its value to the lender; this is Īsā’s transmission from Ibn al-Qāsim. If, however, the lender embraces Islam, Ibn al-Qāsim said in Īsā’s transmission: “I prefer that the wine be taken from the Christian and poured away, and the pigs taken and discarded.”
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Dealing with a protected non-Muslim subject is, in any event, less objectionable than dealing with someone who engages in usury. When the latter repents, his usurious gains do not become lawful for him. He must return them to their owner if he knows him, or give them in charity on his behalf if he does not. Asbagh—may Allah have mercy on him—said concerning the wealth of someone who engages in usury, produces wine, forcibly appropriates property, commits injustice, or withholds zakat: “It is all tainted. None of it may be eaten or drunk, without distinction between one part and another. Whatever is neither eaten nor drunk may not be sold or bought. It must therefore not be used in trade or other dealings. If anyone does transact with him in it, I consider that he should relinquish all of it and give it in charity.”
It has also been held that trading with someone whose entire wealth is unlawful is permissible, provided the transaction is at its proper value and gives him no preferential terms. Accepting his gifts, charity, or other acts of generosity, however, is not permissible. He is like someone whose debts encompass his entire wealth: he may not use any of it for acts of generosity without his creditors’ permission. As for inheritance, it does not make unlawful wealth lawful for the heir. This is the sound position required by careful consideration. It has been reported from some earlier authorities that inheritance makes it lawful for the heir, but this is not correct.
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Only those transactions that are permissible between Muslims are permissible between a Muslim and a protected non-Muslim subject. If they enter into a transaction that is impermissible between Muslims, it must fall into one of three categories:
(First) One sells the other something that may lawfully be owned but not sold, such as dust from goldsmiths’ workshops, a runaway slave, a stray lamb, or something similar. (Second) One sells the other something that may lawfully be owned and sold, but does so through an invalid sale. (Third) One sells the other something that may not lawfully be owned, such as wine, pigs, a free person, blood, carrion, or something similar. As for the first and second categories, when such transactions occur, the ruling is the same as in dealings between