Inkar (denial in a claim, its forms and its effects, and denial of religious matters)

Inkar is lexically ignorance of a thing, negation, and changing a wrong; for the jurists it means denial (jahd) and changing what is wrong. ¹

• Jahd and juhud: the opposite of acknowledgement; some say juhud is denial with knowledge. ¹⁰
• Nafy: negation, the opposite of affirmation; all denial is negation, but not all negation is denial. ¹⁰
• Nukul: refusal to swear. ¹⁰
• Ruju': retracting after one has acted. ¹⁰
• Istinkar: counting a thing as wrong, or asking about what one denies. ¹⁰

• By clear speech that admits only denial, such as "I have not been lent what you claim". Words such as "you have no right over me" are disputed. ²
• By refusing both to affirm and deny: the two disciples of Abu Hanifa hold it denial, while the Hanbalis and some Malikis hold it the same as refusal. ²⁵
• By silence: Abu Yusuf, the fatwa among the Hanafis, and the Shafi'is treat it as denial; the Malikis and Hanbalis treat it as refusal, and some Hanbalis hold the judge may detain the person. ⁵⁶

• The proof lies on the claimant and the oath on the one who denies, on the hadith that this is the way of judgement in general. ³
• If the claimant brings proof, he wins. If the denier takes the oath and clears himself, the claim fails; if he refuses, the Hanafis and Hanbalis judge against him, while the Malikis and Shafi'is do not judge against him unless the oath is returned to the claimant. ³⁴
• The Malikis require two conditions for compelling a denier to swear: a dealing between the parties, and in claims of wrongful taking a known reputation for the like. ⁴⁷
• Rights of God: the Hanafis, Malikis and Shafi'is compel the oath when there is suspicion, while the Hanbalis do not compel it in rights of God. ⁷
• Rights of people: the jurists agree on the oath in property, and differ in other matters; for a trustee there are three views. ⁷⁸
• Marriage, return to a wife, and the like: Abu Hanifa does not compel the oath; Abu Yusuf and Muhammad do. ⁸

A defendant may deny a claim if he owes nothing and is in the wrong; he may not deny a claim he knows to be just. The Hanafis allow two exceptions: a claim of an old defect in goods, and an executor's denial of the dead man's debt. ¹¹

If a depositary denies a deposit after its owner asks for it, he becomes liable for it, and is liable if it perishes after his denial. ¹¹

• An acknowledgement of a right of God, such as fornication: the Hanafis and Hanbalis allow retraction; the Shafi'is have views; Ashhab of the Malikis allows retraction only for an excuse. ⁸
• An acknowledgement of a right of people cannot be retracted; a person who confesses theft and then retracts, owes the property but no hand is cut. ⁸

Denial of a binding contract does not dissolve it unless the other party accepts the dissolution, and denial of marriage is neither a divorce nor a dissolution, by the majority. ¹¹

For the Hanafis, a denial of an apostasy proved by evidence counts as repentance, and he is not pursued; the Shafi'is and Hanbalis judge him an apostate and require him to repent. ⁹

The majority, the Hanafis, Malikis and Hanbalis allow it, and al-Shafi'i forbids it. ⁹

A Muslim may not deny a matter of religion; but one is not declared an unbeliever for denying it unless the matter is agreed upon and known to all Muslims as part of religion. ⁹