Discover the meaning of the term Al-ḥwal-a (حوالة) in Islamic vocabulary.
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Updated on 11 April 2026 at 1:05 AM
📖 4 min readIt derives from at-tahawwul meaning transfer; in the Law: transferring the debt and shifting it from the liability (dhimma) of the assigner (al-muhil) to that of the assignee (al-muhal 'alay-hi).
It is a noun from al-ihal (assignment). The kinship between hawala and kafala (suretyship) is evident in that each of the two entails a commitment binding the original debtor (al-asil). Thus in the 'Nihaya'.
It derives from at-tahawwul meaning transfer. In the Law: transferring the debt and shifting it from the liability of the assigner to that of the assignee. It is specific to debts only because it signifies transfer and shifting; this concerns the debt, not the corporeal thing ('ayn), for this transfer is legal and the debt is a legal attribute whose effect appears in the claim, so the legal transfer could act upon what is established legally. The corporeal thing, being sensory, does not transfer by legal transfer but requires physical transfer.
Substituting one debt for another.
From changing and transferring.
It derives from at-tahawwul meaning transfer; in the Law: moving the debt from one liability to another's.
A noun from 'he assigned the claimant': when he pushed him away from himself to another claimant. Testimony. Suretyship. A document by which money is transferred from one side to another. In the Law: a contract entailing the transfer of a debt from one liability to another; also used for its passage from one liability to another (al-Ansari). With the Malikis: transferring the debt from one liability to another because its like exists in the other, whereby the first is discharged. With the Hanbalis: shifting a right from one liability to another. With the Ja'faris: transferring money from one liability to one charged with its like. With the Ibadis: moving a debt from one liability to another whereby the first is discharged. In the Mejelle (art. 673): transferring the debt from one liability to another. Hawala. Al-hawl: the year (plural: ahwal). Motion and change. In the noble hadith: 'Shall I not teach you a word that is among the treasures of Paradise? There is no might nor power (la hawla wa la quwwata) save in God'; that is: no turning from disobedience and no power for obedience save by God's grace; it is the hawqala, the ha' and waw being from hawl, the qaf from quwwa, and the lam from God's name. Power. The stratagem (hila): skill, keenness of sight, and the ability to act precisely in affairs (plural hawl, hil); most often used for what involves cunning, though also used for what contains wisdom. With the scholars it divides according to the aim of its user: if reached by a lawful means to annul a right or establish falsehood, it is forbidden; to establish a right or repel falsehood, obligatory or recommended; if reached lawfully for safety from falling into the disliked, it is recommended or permitted; or for leaving a recommended act, disliked (Ibn Hajar). The doctrine on hila became famous among the Hanafis because Abu Yusuf wrote a book on it, but what is known of him and of many of their imams is restricting its operation to the intention of right; so said the hafiz Ibn Hajar. Al-muhal: that in which two contradictories are combined. Of things: what cannot exist. Of speech: what is turned from its proper sense. In hawala: the creditor.