2397. A gratuitous loan is realized when a person gives his property to another to use it, without demanding anything in return.
2398. Uttering a formal expression is not necessary for (the validity of) gratuitous loans; rather if a person gives a piece of clothing to another with the intention of giving him a gratuitous loan, and the latter accepts it with the same intention, it will be valid.
2399. Loaning a usurped item, or an item which belongs to the loaner, but its usufruct is the right or property of another, such as a property that has been rented out, is only valid if the owner of the usurped item, or the one who owns or has rights to the usufruct of the property, consents to the loan.
2400. If the usufruct of a property belongs to a person, such as a case where he has rented it, he may loan it to someone who is trustworthy, or loan it with the permission of the owner. However, if it is stipulated within the rental contract that the renter himself make use of it, he may not loan it to someone else.
2401. If a child or an insane person loans out his own property, it will not be valid. Similarly, it will not be valid if a feeble-minded person or bankrupt individual loans out his own property, unless it be with the consent or permission of the guardian of the feeble-minded individual, or the creditors of the bankrupt person. If the guardian sees it expedient to loan out the property of a person whom he has guardianship over, it will not be problematic for him to do so.
2402. If a person is not negligent in safeguarding the loaned property, nor is he immoderate in using it, but the property incidentally perishes, he will not be held responsible for it. However, if it was stipulated that in the event that the property perishes, the person acquiring the loan would be responsible for it, or if the loaned item was gold or silver, the person loaning it will have to replace it.
2403. If a person loans gold or silver, and stipulates that in the event that it perishes, he will not be responsible for it, then if it perishes, he will not be responsible for it.
2404. If the lender passes away, the person who acquired the loan will have to act according to the precepts elaborated in article 2392.
2405. If the lender becomes such that he is not permitted by the shari’a to dispose of his property, such as a person who has turned insane, the duty of the person who acquired the loan will be the same as what was elaborated in article 2391.
2406. A gratuitous loan is a non-binding contract, and therefore the lender and the one acquiring the loan may cancel the loan at any time they wish to do so. Hence, the lender may reclaim that loaned property, except in the case of a land which was loaned out for the purpose of burying a dead body. In this case, once a body has been buried there, he is not permitted to reclaim the land by exhuming the grave.
2407. Loaning out an item which serves no legally permissible use, such as the instruments of vanity and gambling, is not valid. The same applies to loaning out gold or silver dishes for the purpose of consuming food or drinks from them. In fact, based on obligatory precaution the same applies to the rest of its uses, even if it be for decorative purposes.
2408. Loaning a sheep for the use of its milk or wool, or loaning a male animal to impregnate a female animal, is valid.
2409. If a person returns the loaned item to its owner, or the deputy or guardian of the owner, and then the item perishes, the one who acquired the loan will not be responsible for it. However, if he transfers the property to another location without the permission of its owner, or the deputy or guardian of the owner, he will be responsible for it, even if the owner would usually take the loaned item to that location, such as tying a horse in a stable where the owner would usually hold it. In the event that it perishes, he will have to replace it.
2410. If a person loans out an impure (najis) item for a use in which its §ah¡rah is a condition, such as loaning out a najis dish for the purpose of consuming food from it, he must inform the loaner of it being najis. However, if he lends out a najis garment for the purpose of offering prayers in it, he does not have to inform the loaner of it being najis, unless the loaner wishes to offer his prayer in a genuinely §¡hir garment. In this case, the obligatory precaution is that he should inform the loaner of it being najis.
2411. A person may not loan or rent out a loaned item without the consent of its owner.
2412. If a person loans out a loaned item with the consent of its owner, then if the original loaner passes away or turns insane, the second act of loaning will not be invalidated.
2413. If a person knows that the loaned item is usurped, he must return it to its owner, and he may not return it to the lender.
2414. If a person accepts the loan of a property that he knows to be usurped, and makes use of it, and it perishes in his possession, the owner may demand restitution for the item and its use from the one who accepted the loan, or from the usurper. If the owner acquires it from the one who accepted the loan, the latter may not demand any compensation from the lender.
2415. If the person who accepts the loan does not know that the property is usurped, and it perishes in his possession, then if the owner acquires its restitution from him, he too may demand compensation from the lender. However, if the loaned item is gold or silver, or if the lender stipulates that in the event that the item perishes, the one accepting the loan will replace it, then the latter may not demand any compensation from the lender for the restitution that he pays to the owner.
