and then agrees with the other party to rescind the lease with an additional payment, that payment must come either from the lessee or from the lessor. If it comes from the lessee, there are three possibilities: (first) the rent is deferred; (second) the rent is payable immediately but has not been paid; or (third) the rent is payable immediately and has been paid, regardless of whether the recipient has gone away with it. Each of these three possibilities comprises six cases, since the additional payment must consist of gold, silver, or goods delivered immediately. These are three further cases, completing the six. This classification thus yields eighteen cases involving an additional payment from the lessee.
There are likewise eighteen cases involving an additional payment from the lessor, since there are three possibilities: (first) the rent is deferred; (second) it is payable immediately but has not been paid, or has been paid but the recipient has not gone away with it; or (third) it has been paid and the recipient has gone away with it. Each possibility likewise comprises six cases, as explained concerning an additional payment from the lessee.
If the additional payment comes from the lessor and the rent is deferred and denominated in dinars, he may not pay additional dinars immediately or at a date earlier than the due date, because this constitutes a reduction in return for early payment. Nor may he defer them beyond the due date, because this combines a sale with a loan. A deferred payment by way of set-off is permissible. He may not pay additional dirhams, whether immediately or on a deferred basis. He may provide additional goods for immediate delivery, but not for deferred delivery.
All this accords with Ibn al-Qāsim’s position, which treats the discharge of obligations differently from their creation. However, according to those who treat their discharge in the same way as their creation and adopt Ibn al-Qāsim’s view that a creditor may not exchange a debt owed to him for a house lease, rescission is impermissible under any circumstances. This is because the lessor exchanges the rent owed to him by the lessee for a house lease, thus replacing one debt with another. An additional payment in dinars is permissible.
If, again, the additional payment comes from the lessee and the rent is payable immediately but has not been paid, he may not make any deferred additional payment, because this would involve replacing one debt with another. He may pay additional dinars immediately or provide additional goods for immediate delivery, according to the view that the discharge of obligations differs from their creation. If he pays additional dirhams immediately, three views may be derived concerning this, as we have already mentioned when discussing the hirer’s request for rescission in guaranteed transport.
If, again, the additional payment comes from the lessee and he has already paid the rent, an additional payment in gold is impermissible unless it is set off against the rent. If he pays an additional amount in dirhams, the ruling likewise depends on