entitled to be paid for those six months’ work, although he has not completed his full contractual

obligation to work for a whole year101.

The contract of employment can be further subdivided into two categories. The first covers the
employees whose work has an effect on the goods upon which he works. Examples of this
category include the tailor, the dyer or the carpenter. Such an employee is deemed to be in
breach of his contractual obligation if he has not completely finished the contracted work and
delivered it. The second category includes employees whose work has no apparent effect on the
item given to him to work on, with such examples including the porter or the boatman. Such
employees must fulfil the contracted job in order to discharge contractual obligations, but there is
no duty to deliver it to the employer102.

3.8.2 Discharge of Contract by Assignment of Debt Hawalah

Assignment or Hawalah103 is an agreement to transfer a debt from the liability of the original
debtor to the liability of another person. The debtor is freed from a debt whilst another is
responsible for it. Thus, the responsibility for payment shifts to another party. It also refers to the
document by which the transfer or assignment takes place, such as a bill of exchange, promissory
note, cheque or draft. The mechanism of Hawalah is used for the settling of accounts by book
transfers, without the need for physical transfer of cash. The debtor who transfers debt is referred
to as a debtor–assignor muhil, the creditor creditor–assignee muhal and new debtor to whom
transfer is made is the transferee muhal alayh104.

The nature of the assignment of debt in Islamic law stipulates that there are two views relating to
the nature of assignment Hawalah. The first view considers the assignment as a method of
performance, where the debtor can pay the debt for the creditor directly or by transferring him to
the transferee. The assignment is the transfer of demand only whilst the actual burden of

101
Muhammad Ibn Rushd, Bidayat al-Mujtahid wa nihayat al-Muqtasid Vol1 ( Dar Ibn Hazm.
1999) 583
102
Ail M. Civil liability in the Jordanian civil code a comparative study with the Shari’ah. PhD thesis unpublished.
at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, March 1998.
103
The word Hawalah literally transfer or shifting a thing from one place to another.
104
Jamila Hussain. Islam its law and society. (The Federation Press 2004) 179

95