What is the legal implication when one states, 'I owe him a thousand except fifty'?
General Chapter
Al-Mughni
Book of Acknowledgment of Rights
Primary text
When a person states, 'I owe him a thousand except fifty' (*Alf illa khamsin*), the fifty mentioned is understood to be dirhams (coins/currency), because Arabs generally only make exceptions in affirmative statements (*ithbāt*) from the same genus (*al-jins*). This ruling is the chosen position of Ibn Hamid and Al-Qadi, and it is the view of Abu Thawr. The supporting evidence is that the usage among Arabs dictates that the exception in an affirmation must be of the same type as the original amount. If one term is known, the other is inferred to be of the same genus, as established by consensus when the excepted amount is known to have been delivered.
Supporting text
Abu Al-Hasan Al-Tamimi and Abu Al-Khattab hold that the thousand remains ambiguous (*mubham*), and recourse is made to the person stating the amount to clarify its interpretation. This view is also held by Malik and Al-Shafi'i, based on the premise that an exception is valid even if it is not of the same genus, and because the term 'thousand' remains ambiguous, and 'dirham' was not mentioned to clarify it, thus maintaining its ambiguity.