Chapter 28(b) - Bail out and Assignment or Referral

“I once remained behind from performing al-Hajj and abu ‘ Abd Allah (a.s.), asked, ’What caused you to remain behind from performing al-Hajj ? 5 I replied, ’I pray to Allah to keep my soul in service for your cause, I bailed out a person but he violated his responsibility . 5 He (the Imam) said, ‘What do you have to do with bailsman-ship? Did you not know that people of the centuries before were destroyed ? 5 He (the Imam) then said, ‘A people committed a great many sins. They then became severely afraid. Another people came to them and said, ‘Your sins are upon us . 5 Allah, most Majestic, most Glorious, sent upon them suffering and He most Blessed, most High, said, ‘You were afraid of Me, then you defied Me . 555

“About the case of an assignment if the assignee says to the debtor, ‘I wave in your favor what you owe me because of the assignment, one of the two Imam 5 , (abu Ja’far or abu ‘Abd Allah), ‘Alayhim al- Salam, has said, ‘If the assignee waves it in favor of the debtor he (assignee) loses the right to ask the debtor for any payment; but if he (the assignee) does not wave it in favor of the debtor, he (assignee) has the right to ask the assignor for payment . 555 Muhammad ibn Yahya has narrated from Ahmad ibn Muhammad from Ali ibn Hadid from Jamil from Zurarah has narrated from a similar Hadith.

“This is concerning my question before abu ‘Abd Allah (a.s.), about the case of a man who bails out a person assigning his own person as security, and the bailee says, ‘If you did not bring the bailed out person you must pay five hundred dirham . 5 He (the Imam) said, ‘The guarantor is required only to present himself and there is no dirham due on him. However, if the bailsman says, “I on failing to bring the bailed out person, will pay five hundred dirham , 55 payment of dirham becomes binding upon him if he does not present the bailed out person . 555

“This is concerning my question before abu ‘Abd Allah (a.s.), about the case of a man who assigns another man to collect a certain amount of dirham from his debtor; if the assignee can demand payment from the assignor. He (the Imam) said, ‘No, he can never do so unless the debtor was bankrupt before assignment . 555

“I once said to abu al-Hassan (a.s.), I pray to Allah to keep my soul in service for your cause, what do you say about people’s saying, ‘The bailsman suffers loss . 5 He (the Imam) said, ‘The bailsman is not responsible for any loss. The one who has consumed the asset is responsible for the loss.”’

“Abu ‘ Abd Allah (a.s.), has said that once a man who had presented his person to bail out another man was brought before ‘Amir al-Mu’minin who placed him in custody and commanded him to present the man whom he had bailed out.’”