Discover the meaning of the term Al-ḍman (ضمان) in Islamic vocabulary.
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Updated on 11 April 2026 at 1:05 AM
📖 3 min readProperty whose corpus remains in place but from which no benefit is hoped for, such as usurped property or lost property (majhud) when no clear proof (bayyina) stands over it.
In language: taking upon oneself. One says "damantu l-mal" (I stood surety for the property) when you have taken it upon yourself; and the verb becomes transitive by doubling, so one says "damantahu l-mal" (you made him stand surety for the property): you bound him to it. It is akin to suretyship (kafala): the author of al-Muhkam said: "he stood surety for the thing (damina sh-shay'a), he stood surety by it (damina bihi), damnan and damanan, and he bound him to it (dammanahu iyyahu)": he stood surety for him.
One says: "damin, damin, kafil, kafil, hamil (with fatha on the non-emphatic ha'), za'im and qabil". The fine (taghrim): one says "damantahu sh-shay'a tadminan": when you have imposed it on him as a fine, you thereby took it upon him. Al-Fayyumi said: "he erred who derived it from damm (joining), for the nun of daman is a radical letter, while damm has no nun: they are therefore two distinct roots".
As a technical term: some jurists use daman for joining one liability (dhimma) to another, so that daman and kafala have one meaning. Others distinguish it from kafala: kafala concerns persons and daman property. Still others use daman for compensation for destroyed property, usurpation, defects and unexpected alterations, and extend it to the guarantee of property and binding oneself to it, whether by contract or without contract.
It is also used for the placing of the hand upon property in general, rightfully or wrongfully. Here are some definitions that reveal its meaning: al-Marghinani said: joining a dhimma to another dhimma in the claim; it was also said: in the debt; and the first was preferred (this is their definition of kafala). Al-Shinqiti said: occupying one dhimma with another rightfully, of the category of voluntary benefactions (tabarru').
The imposition of a right upon another.
It is the term for returning the like of the destroyed thing (halak) if it is fungible (mithli), or its value if it is non-fungible (qimi).