Literally, the word ibra’ connotes exoneration and dissociation from something. In the context of debt obligation, ibra’ means to absolve a debtor from a debt or obligation that is established in his liability. Technically, ibra’ is “an act of absolving one’s financial rights established in another person’s liability which leads to discharging the other from liability to fulfill the obligation”. It is a unilateral waiver of right by a party to the contract which is granted out of his benevolence (ihsan) at his sole discretion. This signifies that if the claims and rights are not the liability of the latter, such as the right of shuf’ah, then the relinquishment would not be considered ibra’ but merely an absolution of rights (isqat). On this basis, every act of ibra’ is considered isqat (mere absolution of right), but not every absolution is deemed ibra’. Shariah scholars argue that ibra’ assumes a distinctive feature of having the element of isqat and tamlik (ownership); because in the context of debt obligation, ibra’ means absolution of one’s financial right (isqat min al-dayn) and assigning ownership to the debtor (tamlik li al-madin).
