usual market conditions have undergone a lasting change, in which case the fair market price will have fallen, and it should be sold at the newly established fair market price. If selling it is not obligatory, the creditor must grant the debtor respite until his circumstances improve or he has the means to pay. The creditor may demand whatever he can afford at any given time; this is payment by instalments.

He—may Allah have mercy on him—was asked:

About a silk-weaver to whom a woman delivered yarn for two lengths of cloth. He fled, and his shop was sealed. The woman complained about her yarn, so the governor ordered the shop opened and permitted everyone to take whatever of their own belongings they found. One length remained on the loom. A man, a mawqiʿ, then came forward, stating that he had left a little yarn with the silk-weaver. He complained to the judge, who authorized him to take the woman’s length of cloth and divide it among those who had entrusted property to the weaver, while deferring consideration of the woman’s case.

He replied:

Property held in trust in a bankrupt person’s shop—such as cloth he is weaving for people, yarn, and other items—belongs to its owners, by the agreement of the Muslims. It must not be given to anyone other than its owner.

If he has received people’s yarn and that very yarn cannot be found, its owner may not take someone else’s property in compensation for his own. Rather, if he made a loan in this connection, it would remain the weaver’s personal liability. The same applies to any wages paid to him for work he has not completed, for that payment is