his own share, together with one quarter of what they paid on behalf of his fellow guarantors under the guarantee; they divide this equally among themselves. If one of them encounters a fellow guarantor who has paid anything by virtue of the guarantee, he takes that payment into account and has recourse against him for half the remainder. If the person encountered has paid anything by virtue of the guarantee, or he himself has made someone else pay, he settles accounts with him on the basis of the balance, as described.

If one of them encounters a fellow guarantor and recovers from him, then encounters him a second time after the latter has recovered from someone else, he has further recourse against him, so that they share equally in what the latter recovered. If the person against whom this further recourse was exercised then encounters the other man from whom he had previously recovered, he has recourse against him again in respect of what the first man took from him at their second encounter. Then, if the first man encounters him a third time, he again has recourse against him. These successive claims continue among them until all three bear an equal burden. They continue to have recourse against one another whenever one encounters a fellow guarantor and has paid more than he has, until each has recovered everything he paid by virtue of the guarantee and has borne only his own share of the original debt, neither more nor less.

The possible patterns of recourse among them cannot be confined to a fixed number, since they may encounter one another in different sequences and in a variety of configurations. These successive claims cannot be settled in fewer than fifteen encounters, whatever their sequence, unless a group encounters another group, an individual encounters a group, or a group encounters an individual. They can be settled in fifteen encounters if these occur in a particular sequence, which I shall explain later, Allah willing.

How to proceed in this case becomes clear only when it is set out as a concrete example. I shall therefore set it out and present the patterns of recourse mentioned in the book, explaining whatever is obscure. I shall then supply the remaining stages of recourse that it leaves unmentioned, following the sequence with which we began, until each has recovered what he paid under the guarantee and all bear equal shares of the original debt. Then, Allah willing, I shall explain the rules governing their recourse against one another when their encounters follow the sequence in which, as we have stated, their successive claims can be settled in fifteen encounters, with no more than two of them meeting at any one time—Allah willing. There is no power except through Allah.