or fruit whose ripeness has not yet begun to show.
A pledge is valid only when it has been physically delivered and placed in safekeeping, for Allah says, “then let there be a pledge taken into possession” (2:283). One of the conditions of a pledge is that its custody and possession remain continuous.
If someone takes a pledge and then returns it to its owner as a loan or in some other manner, allowing him to wear it, ride it, or live in it, the pledge is nullified. Should the creditor take it back again as a pledge before the owner dies or is declared bankrupt, that is permissible and the pledge resumes its original status.
At the time of death or bankruptcy, even when both pledger and pledgee admit that the item had been received, witnesses are still required—people who actually saw it in the pledgee’s possession, either at the moment the pledge was contracted or afterward but before any dispute arose and before the owner’s death.
A pledge is not deemed to be in the creditor’s possession if it is left with the pledger himself, his child, his wife, or his slave. It may, however, be placed with an impartial third party other than those just mentioned, and in that case it is regarded as having been taken into possession.
Pledging an undivided share is permissible. If the whole pledged item belongs to the pledger, valid delivery and custody require that the creditor take all of it, leaving none of it with the pledger. If the pledger owns only the share he has pledged, the matter is examined further.
When the property is real estate—or any other immovable item—possession is established once the creditor takes over the pledger’s share, occupies it, and stands in his place; the pledge is then sound. If the property is movable and liable to be carried off, possession is not effected until the creditor takes charge of the entire item in which the share is held, and that can be done only with the co-owner’s permission.
Some jurists have added that with any type of property—goods, livestock, or real estate—a pledge of an undivided share is not valid until the creditor takes possession of the whole jointly owned property, whether it is movable or immovable.