Some Lessons from Jurisprudence (Fiqh)

This book deals with buying and selling, the conditions which the two parties (the buyer and seller) must meet, the conditions of the two commodities exchanged, the conditions of the contract and the type of transaction: cash transactions; nisiyah transactions which are transactions wherein a commodity is given cash and the payment after a periodand salaf transactions which are the opposite of nisiyah transactions, i.e. a sale wherein payment is immediate and the commodity is not put at the buyers disposal until after a period. Transactions wherein both the payment and the product are to be exchanged after a period are null and void. Similarly, in the chapter of selling, advantageous transfers, disadvantageous transfers and advantageless transfers are also discussed. What is meant by advantageous transfer (marabihah) here is that a person makes a transaction and then, after having made some profit, transfers it to someone else. A disadvantageous transfer (muwadah) is the opposite, meaning a transaction which, after having suffered some loss and damage, is transferred to someone else. And what is meant by an advantageless transfer (tuwliyah) is that a transaction is transferred to someone else having made no profit nor having suffered any loss.

The Book "Rahn".

Rahn means mortgage. In this book of jurisprudence the laws of mortgaging are studied.

The Book of the Bankrupt (muflis)

Muflis means "the bankrupt", i.e. a person whose holdings do not meet his liabilities. In order to investigate the liabilities of such a person, the Hakim-Shari'ah i.e. a mujtahid, can prohibit him from the right to his possessions until an exact investigation is made and as far as possible the liabilities be paid.

The Book of Prohibition (hajr)

Hajr means prohibition. What is meant is the prohibition of making use of property. In many cases, the use of property by the original owner is prohibited. As we have seen, the bankrupt is one instance. Another is an immature child (i.e. a girl under nine or a boy under fifteen). The insane, the person sane in other ways Ibut who always spends his money foolishly like spending all his money on clothes when he is desperately in need of food, are other instances.

The Book of Liability (diman)

Liability is that a person accepts the liability of another person's debts. There exists a difference between Shi'ite jurisprudents and the jurisprudents of our Sunni brothers about the reality of liability. In the view of Shi'ite jurisprudents diman is the transferrence of the obligation of a debt from the debtor to a party that accepts liability, and is only valid with the consent of the creditor, and in Shi'ite jurisprudence, once the liability has been transferred, the creditor has no longer the right to seek it from the person who has made himself liable. Of course, if the liability was urged on the liable by the debtor, then, once he has cleared the debt, the liable can take that amount from the first debtor. In the view of Sunni jurisprudence, however, it is the annexing of the obligation of the debt onto someone else, who also becomes obliged to repay the debt. Which means that after the contract of liability, the creditor has both the right to seek the debt from the original debtor and also from the person who has made himself liable.

Sometimes two other chapters, hawalih (another kind of liability) and kafalah (a kind of bail system) are also included in this book.