He may even insist on having the property divided so that the pledge can validly stand; this is the opinion of Ashhab. Others have said that real estate and movable goods are alike: delivery is effected in whatever way would normally relieve the pledger of responsibility, so long as the item can be held independently.
Mālik said: “If a man owns a share of a house and pledges that share, the pledge becomes valid once the pledgee takes possession of it together with the co-owner, by the manner in which joint property is customarily received, and then holds it to the exclusion of the pledger. If someone pledges an undivided half of a house, the pledgee duly takes possession of it, and the pledger thereafter leases the other partner’s share, the pledge is void. It will not be validated until the pledger no longer has any authority or right to collect rent from any part of the house.
“Whoever rents a house, then takes the same house as a pledge, and afterwards leases it back to its owner, nullifies his pledge. Likewise, if a house is owned by two men and one of them pledges his portion, he may not later rent the portion that belongs to the other, for that would invalidate the pledge. If they wish the lease between them to stand, they must first make a proper division of the house; the pledgee then takes possession of the pledger’s share and holds it, while the co-owner rents his own share from his partner.
“If a person sells an item on the condition that a specific piece of his property serve as a pledge, and then refuses to hand it over, he will be compelled to deliver it whenever the pledgee demands, and this obligation persists indefinitely unless he dies or is declared bankrupt. Should he die or go bankrupt before delivery, the pledge is annulled and the property enters his estate, to be shared among all the pledger’s creditors.
“If, in a sale contract, the seller stipulates an unspecified pledge and the buyer refuses to furnish it, the seller may either let the sale stand without a pledge or cancel it altogether.
“Once the pledgee has validated the pledge by taking exclusive possession of it, he has the strongest claim to it until he has satisfied his debt from it; no other creditor may share in it.
“It is likewise permissible for a house to be pledged by the very tenant who already occupies it, and …”