2342. If a person refers his creditor to a third party for the money that he owes him, and the creditor accepts to do so, then if the ¦awalah (transfer of liabilities) is realized with the conditions that will be elaborated later, the person being referred to will become indebted to the creditor. Thereafter, the creditor will not be able to claim his debts from the original debtor.
2343. The debtor and the creditor must both be sane and b¡ligh. They should also not be wrongfully compelled to it, nor be feeble-minded—defined as someone who wastes his wealth on futile ventures—unless it is carried out by the permission or the consent of the guardian. However if the transfer of liabilities is to a person who is not indebted to the one who is transferring the liability, then in the case that the latter is a feeble-minded person, it will not be problematic. Additionally, both the debtor and the creditor should not be interdicted by the ¦¡kim al-shar’yy from disposing of their property due to bankruptcy. However, if the transfer of liabilities is to a person who is not indebted to the one who is transferring the liability, and the latter is bankrupt, it will not be problematic.
2344. The validity of a transfer of liabilities to a person who is not indebted is contingent on his acceptance. Similarly, if a person wishes to transfer the liability of a particular commodity to a person who owes him a different commodity, such as transferring the liability of wheat to person who owes barley, it will not be valid unless the latter accepts it.
2345. At the time of transferring a liability, a person must be indebted. Hence, if he wishes to obtain a loan from someone, as long as he has not obtained the loan, he may not refer him to another person for the sum that he later wishes to loan from him.
2346. The person transferring the liability and the creditor must both know the amount and type of the liability being transferred. Therefore, if someone owes an individual ten kgs of wheat and ten dollars, and asks him to claim either of the two from another individual, without specifying which one, the transfer will not be valid.
2347. If the debt has actually been specified, however the debtor and the creditor are not aware of its amount or type while transferring the liability, the transfer will be valid. For example, if the debt has been recorded in a document, and the liability is transferred before referring to the document, and thereafter they refer to the document and inform the creditor of the amount of the debt, the transfer will be valid.
2348. The creditor reserves the right to refuse the transfer of liabilities, even if the person it is being transferred to is not poor, and neither is he negligent in paying the liability.
2349. If a person who is not indebted to the one transferring his own liabilities, accepts the liability to be transferred to him, he may not claim the amount of the liability from the latter prior to paying it.
If the creditor settles his debt for a lesser amount, the person who accepted the liability cannot claim an amount greater than it from the person who transferred the liability.
2350. Once a transfer of liability has been realized, the person transferring the liability and the transferee cannot cancel the transfer. The creditor may also not cancel the transfer if the transferee is not poor at the time of the transfer, even if he becomes poor thereafter. The same will apply if he is poor at the time of the transfer and the creditor is aware of it. However, if he does not know that he is poor, but later realizes that the transferee has become rich, the creditor will still reserve the right to cancel the transfer and claim the debt from the (original) debtor.
2351. If the debtor, creditor and transferee—in the event that his acceptance is a consequential condition in the transfer of liabilities, such as a person who is not indebted to the debtor—or one of them reserves the right to cancel the transfer of liabilities, he may cancel the transfer according to the clause agreed within the contract.
2352. If the person who transferred his liability pays the creditor himself, then in the event that he has paid it at the request of the transferee who was indebted to him, he may claim the item that he paid from the transferee. However, if he paid it without a request from the transferee, or the transferee was not indebted to him, he may not demand the paid item from the transferee.
