a person to take his garment, and he paid him a dirham. The third [opinion] is that he refers it to the ruler to sell it and pay him its price as compensation for his property. The second opinion is closer to being kind to people, for it contains benefit for the one whose clothes were stolen by obtaining compensation for them, benefit for the thief by lightening his burden of sin, and preservation of these abandoned clothes from being lost. Some scholars have permitted one who has a claim against a person, whether by debt or by usurpation, to take from the property of the one liable for the claim in an amount equal to what is owed to him, if he is unable (22) to collect it otherwise; so here, with the consent of the one liable for the claim to his taking it, it is even more appropriate. If there is a context indicating that the one who took the clothes only took them under the assumption that they were his own—such as if the abandoned ones are better than or equal to the ones taken, and they are of a type (23) that is easily confused—then it is appropriate that he should announce them here, because their owner did not leave them intentionally, so they are in the position of being lost by him. The appearance is that if he learns of them, he takes them and returns what he had taken, so they become in meaning like a lost item (luqta). After the announcement, if it is not identified, then the opinions we mentioned apply to them, except that if we say he takes them or the ruler sells them and pays him their price, he only takes to the extent of the value of his own clothes; he does not exceed that, because the excess is surplus beyond what he is entitled to, and its owner did not consent to abandoning it as compensation for what he took, for he did not take the others out of a choice to abandon his own, nor did he consent to an exchange with them. If we say that he hands them over to the ruler to sell them and pay him their price, he may purchase them for a price charged to his liability, offset that price by the amount equivalent to his clothes, and give the remainder in charity. And Allah knows best.

Section: Ahmad said regarding one who has in his possession pledges upon which time has passed and whose owner is not known: He sells them and gives their price in charity; and if the owner comes, he is liable to him for them. This is applied to one who has collected the debts for which the pledge was held. As for one who has not collected his debt, if he [the owner] had permitted him to sell them,