Debt assignment in Islamic law with specific reference to Hanafī school of law and Ottoman legal practice

This study focuses on the debt assignment contract in Islamic law, which provides the transfer of debt to a new debtor, also called assignee. For this reason, at the outset, the theoretical framework upon which the contract has been built in the Ḥanafī madhhab is examined, and then its general features, formation, termination, terms, and results are thrown light upon using today's legal methodology. Subsequently, the manner in which this framework reflected on legal practice is discussed in the light of the Ottoman law. In the study, principally the classical Ḥanafī fiqh books, fatwa compilations written in the Ottoman period, court registers from Istanbul and some legal regulations put into effect in the Ottoman period are drawn on. Based on these sources, the principles of the Ḥanafī madhhab regarding the contract and the points upon which Ḥanafī jurists have disputed are shed light on, and the compatibility of the Ottoman legal practice with the Islamic legal theory are called into question. As a result, the study reveals that the theoretical framework for the debt assignment contract in Islamic law has been well-established and the Ottoman legal practice in Istanbul was to a great extent compatible and consonant with this framework.