Mal (property) in fiqh: definitions, kinds, usufruct and debt as property

المَال

Mal, in lexicon, is anything a person owns. The Hanafis define it as what human nature inclines to and can be kept for need; the Malikis, as what can be owned and the owner may exclusively control; the Hanbalis, as what it is lawful to benefit from in every case, or lawful to keep without need ¹. The jurists differ on whether usufructs are property: the Hanafis hold they are not in themselves property, except when they are the object of a contract of exchange such as hire; most Shafi'is, Malikis and Hanbalis hold they are property in themselves ². On debt as property, the Hanafis treat it as property in a figurative sense; one Shafi'i view says it is property in fact, another that it is a right to claim which becomes property in the end ³. The jurists divide property in many ways: valued and unvalued (Hanafi), fungible and non-fungible, goods subject to another's right, movables and immovables, cash and goods, property lost or hoped for, growing and held, and apparent and hidden property for zakat ⁴. Its rulings include the prohibition on taking or consuming another's property, the rule that a minor's property is not handed over until he is proved of sound judgement, the duty to earn enough for oneself and dependants, and the duty to rid oneself of mixed unlawful property ⁵. The six kinds of ribawi goods are fixed by a hadith; other goods are not ribawi ⁶.