the court until he settles the dispute between them. He must summon him from within the prescribed distance for such a summons, which some hold to be one barīd (postal stage)—a distance that cannot be travelled there and back in one day—as maintained by some followers of al-Shāfiʿī and by Ahmad according to one of the two reports from him. Others hold that the distance permitting the shortening of prayers is four postal stages, or two days’ travel at a moderate pace, as Ahmad maintains according to one of the two reports from him. The judge may then be too occupied to settle the dispute immediately, or may have earlier cases before him. The defendant thus remains detained and restrained from the time he is summoned until the dispute between him and his opponent is settled. This is detention without suspicion; detention on suspicion is therefore all the more warranted.

“Detention under Islamic law” does not mean confinement in a cramped place. Rather, it means restraining a person and preventing him from moving about freely, whether in a house or a mosque, or by placing him in the custody of his opponent or his opponent’s representative. This is why the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, called such a person a captive. Abū Dāwūd and Ibn Mājah narrated from al-Hirmās ibn Habīb, from his father, who said:

“I brought a debtor of mine to the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace. He told me, ‘Stay with him.’ Then he said, ‘O brother of Banū Tamīm, what do you intend to do with your captive?’”

In Ibn Mājah’s version:

“Then he passed by me towards the end of the day and said, ‘What has become of your captive, O brother of Banū Tamīm?’”

This was detention in the time of the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace. During the time of the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and Abū Bakr, there was no prison set aside for confining people. However, when the subjects spread over a wider territory during the time of ʿUmar ibn al-Khattāb, he purchased a house in Mecca, made it a prison and detained people there. Indeed,