against the debtor. Ibn Wahb narrated from Mālik that he has no recourse against the debtor unless the guarantor dies or becomes insolvent. Mutarrif narrated from Mālik in al-Wādiha that he may have recourse against the debtor if he wishes, without making this conditional upon death or insolvency. Ibn al-Mājishūn said: “His condition is invalid, and the guarantor cannot be proceeded against until the debtor becomes solvent. This remains a guarantee unless he expressly calls it a transfer of debt, saying to him: ‘I accept you as the debtor for my claim.’ His claim then lies against him, and he has no recourse against his original debtor.”
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In my view, this disagreement concerns only a condition stipulating that the creditor has no further claim or recourse against the debtor, while the guarantor retains recourse against him for whatever he pays to the creditor on his behalf. If, however, the condition stipulates that neither the creditor nor the guarantor has any further claim against the debtor, then, by agreement, the debt is discharged, and neither has any financial recourse against him: neither the guarantor, if he pays the claimant—the creditor—nor the claimant, if the guarantor becomes insolvent or dies.
Some interpret Ibn Wahb’s narration from Mālik in al-Mudawwana as explaining Ibn al-Qāsim’s statement there. They say that Ibn al-Qāsim meant that the creditor—the claimant—has no recourse against his original debtor unless the guarantor dies or becomes insolvent. In my view, however, Ibn al-Qāsim’s statement may be understood to mean that both parties have released the debtor entirely from the debt. Ibn al-Qāsim would thus have been addressing a different situation from that addressed in Ibn Wahb’s narration from Mālik. This is a possible and tenable interpretation.
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If several guarantors undertake liability for a debt in a single transaction, each is liable for an equal share according to their number, unless it is stipulated that each guarantees the liability of his fellow guarantor or guarantors, whether or not the stipulation expressly mentions the entire sum. A solvent guarantor may then be required to cover an insolvent guarantor’s liability, just as the guarantors may be required to pay when the debtor is insolvent. According to one of Mālik’s two views, the creditor may proceed against whichever of them he wishes; and according to both views, if he stipulates that