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Hamala (bearing a debt to end a feud)

الحَمالة

Hamala is the blood-money or fine a person bears for another; technically it is the debt a man undertakes to pay in order to end a feud between two groups in which lives or property have been lost. 1 2 Guarantee (daman) is wider than hamala, which is guarantee of blood-money or other sums for the sake of peace; kafala is for the Hanafis the joining of the surety's liability to the principal's, and for most jurists an undertaking to produce the person. 2 Hamala is lawful beyond dispute and counted among the noble acts; the Arabs knew it, and its basis is the Quranic command to fear God and mend relations among believers. 2 3 Zakat may go to a hamil who borrowed to end a feud: the Hanafis require him to be poor; the Malikis, Shafiis and Hanbalis give him from the share of debtors even if rich, where the burden is crushing. 3 4 Most jurists allow the bearer of a hamala to ask others for help until he has paid. 4

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Era
The Early Abbasid Caliphate
Region
Global / Diaspora
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Law and courts

Summary

Hamala is the blood-money or fine a person bears for another; technically it is the debt a man undertakes to pay in order to end a feud between two groups in which lives or property have been lost. 1 2 Guarantee (daman) is wider than hamala, which is guarantee of blood-money or other sums for the sake of peace; kafala is for the Hanafis the joining of the surety's liability to the principal's, and for most jurists an undertaking to produce the person. 2 Hamala is lawful beyond dispute and counted among the noble acts; the Arabs knew it, and its basis is the Quranic command to fear God and mend relations among believers. 2 3 Zakat may go to a hamil who borrowed to end a feud: the Hanafis require him to be poor; the Malikis, Shafiis and Hanbalis give him from the share of debtors even if rich, where the burden is crushing. 3 4 Most jurists allow the bearer of a hamala to ask others for help until he has paid. 4

People and things also explored

Ahliyya (legal capacity: to have rights and duties, and to act; its stages from the womb to full maturity, and what impairs it)· Democracy and the Sharia — compatibility and conflict· Fatwa on the satellite channels — its benefit and harm· Secularism and Islam — conflict or concord· Stoning (rajm) as a penalty for zina· Allusion to a proposal during the waiting period· Aman (safe-conduct granted to enemies in war)· Amana (trust, deposit and what is entrusted)

Sources

  1. al-Mawsu'a al-Fiqhiyya al-Kuwaitiyya, Noor-Book copy (file named v3) , p.7288
  2. al-Mawsu'a al-Fiqhiyya al-Kuwaitiyya, Noor-Book copy (file named v3) , p.7289
  3. al-Mawsu'a al-Fiqhiyya al-Kuwaitiyya, Noor-Book copy (file named v3) , p.7290
  4. al-Mawsu'a al-Fiqhiyya al-Kuwaitiyya, Noor-Book copy (file named v3) , p.7291
Cite this page

islam.museum contributors. “Hamala (bearing a debt to end a feud)”. islam.museum, https://islam.museum/en/concept/hamala-peace-guarantee/. CC BY-SA 4.0. Last updated 2026-10-23.

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Ahliyya (legal capacity: to have rights and duties, and to act; its stages from the womb to full maturity, and what impairs it)

Ahliyya is lexically suitability, and it is of two kinds: capacity to have rights and duties, the capacity of liability; and capacity to act, that is to perform acts recognised by the law. Its bearer passes through the stages of the foetus, childhood, discernment, puberty and maturity. Liability is complete from birth and incomplete for the foetus; the capacity to act is partial at discernment and full with puberty and reason. It is affected by heavenly impediments such as madness, imbecility, sleep, fainting, illness, slavery, menstruation, childbirth and death, and by acquired ones such as ignorance, drunkenness, jest, folly, travel, error and coercion.