In that lies sound etiquette in collection and a facilitation of payment; it also removes the injustice that would persist were the debt to remain on the books of a procrastinating debtor.

Points derived from the ḥadith:

1. It is forbidden for a wealthy person to delay payment, and it is obligatory for him to settle the debt he owes his creditor.

2. The very expression “postponement” indicates that the prohibition on delay and the obligation to pay arise only when the creditor demands his due or otherwise shows his wish to collect.

3. The prohibition applies only to a rich debtor who is able to pay. As for the poor debtor or one prevented by a genuine impediment, he is excused.

4. It is forbidden to hound the insolvent and obligatory to grant him respite until ease, because the ban on procrastination and the duty of payment are tied to the ability of the wealthy debtor. The insolvent is excused, and pursuing him for the debt is unlawful.

5. The ḥadith recommends good repayment on the debtor’s part—he should not stall the creditor—and good collection on the creditor’s part, namely that he accept the hawālah when the debtor transfers him to a solvent party.

6. The outward sense of the ḥadith is that if the debtor transfers the creditor to a solvent person, the creditor must accept the transfer. The juristic differences on this will be discussed, Allah willing.

7. By implication, the transferee is not obliged to accept the hawālah if he is referred to someone who is not solvent.

8. The scholars define a “solvent” person (maliʾ) as one combining three qualities: (1) he is able to pay, so he is not poor; (2) he is truthful in his promises, so he is not a procrastinator; and (3) he can be summoned to court, meaning he is not so influential that the judge cannot compel him, nor is he, for example, the transferee’s father so that the judge would bar litigation against him.

9. The scholars noted that the two clauses in the ḥadith are paired because, since procrastination by the debtor is an injustice, the Prophet ﷺ required the creditor to remove that injustice by accepting a transfer to someone who would cause him no harm—that is, a solvent party.

10. The apparent purport of the ḥadith is that the debt moves from the transferor’s liability to that of the person to whom it is transferred. What seems correct and reassuring, however, is that if the creditor accepts the hawālah willingly, fully aware that the new debtor is insolvent, deceased, a procrastinator, or afflicted with similar defects, and he has not stipulated anything with the transferor