Seadet-i Ebediyye - Endless Bliss Fifth Fascicle

37 – LENDING
Lending, which is termed qardh-i-hasan, is an act that yields
plenty of thawâb (rewards, blessings in the Hereafter). Qardh-ihasan
means to lend anything that has a mithl, i.e. a likeness, in the
market, with the understanding that its mithl (likeness, equivalent)
will be returned after an indefinite period of time. Lending
becomes sahîh upon îjâb (proposal, offer) and qabûl (acceptance),
[i.e. an agreement that is made by uttering the expressions “I have
taken...” and “I have given...”. A person who has borrowed one
gold coin will return one gold coin. He cannot return its former or
current value in silver coins or paper lira bills on the premise that
its value has changed. Nor would he be accredited to return gold
in lieu of those things. It would be permissible, however, with the
creditor’s consent. If a person does not return his debt although he
has the wherewithal to do so, his creditor or someone else may
take it from him by force. When the debt is returned, if the
voucher is the creditor’s property, he gives a receipt to confirm
that the debt has been returned. If a person in his deathbed has a
number of creditors, he divides it among all of them. If the debtor
says to the creditor, “Give me my hundred-lira promissory note
and I’ll give you ninety liras in return,” and the creditor gives the
note unwillingly, he may demand ten more liras. In case the zuyûf,
i.e. currency other than gold and silver, e.g. paper bills, that you
lent to someone, lose their value after you have lent them, the
debtor, according to the Imâmeyn (Imâm Abû Yûsuf and Imâm
Muhammad), will have to pay gold or current money whose value
is equal to that which the fulûs had when you lent them. As is
written in the section dealing with sale of sarf, a fatwâ agreeable
with the ijtihâd of Abû Yûsuf has been issued that the same rule
applies in changes of value. So is the case with changes of value of
everything measured by capacity or by weight. A person cannot
demand the debt that someone owes him from a third person who
is indebted to his debtor. It is fâsid to lend qiyamî property such as
a house, a shop, an animal, clothes, which do not have mithls, (i.e.
likenesses, equivalents in markets;) such things must be returned
immediately. It is harâm (for the lender) to use them. It is harâm
also to sell them. However, it will be sahîh (if they have been sold
by the lender). For, they have been the buyer’s property once the
buyer has gotten possession of them. The value of the qiyamî
property that has been borrowed has to be paid. The statement, “I
owe Ahmad a hundred liras,” would not suffice to verify that the
person who made that statement were in debt. The cause and the
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