The Principle Of Limited Liability
1) Introduction
2) Waqf
3) Baitul-Mal
4) Joint Stock
5) Inheritance under debt
6) The Performance of the Islamic Banks - A realistic evaluation
Islamic Finance

Introduction
The concept of 'limited liability' has now become an inseparable ingredient of the large scale enterprises of trade and industry throughout the modern world, including the Muslim countries. The present chapter aims to explain this concept and evaluate it from the Shari‘ah point of view in order to know whether or not this principle is acceptable in a pure Islamic economy. The limited liability' in the modern economic and legal terminology is a condition under which a partner or a shareholder of a business secures himself from bearing a loss greater than the amount he has invested in a company or partner-ship with limited liability. If the business incurs a loss, the maximum a shareholder can suffer, is that he may lose his entire original investment. But the loss cannot extend to his personal assets, and if the assets of the company are not sufficient to discharge all its liabilities, the creditors cannot claim the remaining part of their receivables from the personal assets of the shareholders.
Although the concept of 'limited liability' was, in some countries applied to the partnership also, yet, it was most commonly applied to the companies and corporate bodies. Rather, it will be more true, perhaps, to say that the concept of 'limited liability' originally emerged with the emergence of the corporate bodies and joint stock companies. The basic purpose of the introduction of this principle was to attract the maximum number of investors to the large-scale joint ventures and to assure them that their personal fortunes will not be at stake if they wish to invest their savings in such a joint enterprise. In the practice of modern trade, the concept proved itself to be a vital force to mobilize large amounts of capital from a wide range of investors.
No doubt, the concept of 'limited liability' is beneficial to the shareholders of a company. But, at the same time, it may be injurious to its creditors. If the liabilities of a limited company exceed its assets, the company becomes insolvent and is consequently liquidated, the creditors may lose a considerable amount of their claims, because they can only receive the liquidated value of the assets of the company, and have no recourse to its shareholders for the rest of their claims. Even the directors of the company who may be responsible for such an unfortunate situation cannot be held responsible for satisfying the claims of the creditors. It is this aspect of the concept of 'limited liability' which requires consideration and research from the Shari‘ah viewpoint.
Although the concept of 'limited liability' in the context of the modern commercial practice is a new concept and finds no express mention as such in the original sources of Islamic Fiqh, yet the Shari‘ah viewpoint about it can be sought in the principles laid down by the Holy Qur’an, the Sunnah of the Holy Prophet ? and the Islamic jurisprudence. This exercise requires some sort of ijtihad carried out by the persons qualified for it. This ijtihad should preferably be undertaken by the Shari‘ah scholars at a collective level, yet, as a pre-requisite, there should be some individual efforts which may serve as a basis for the collective exercise.
As a humble student of Shari‘ah, this author have been considering the issue since long, and what is going to be presented in this article should not be treated as a final verdict on this subject, nor an absolute opinion on the point. It is the outcome of initial thinking on the subject, and the purpose of this article is to provide a foundation for further research.
he question of 'limited liability' it can be said, is closely related to the concept of juridical personality of the modern corporate bodies. According to this concept, a joint-stock company in itself enjoys the status of a separate entity as distinguished from the individual entities of its shareholders. The separate entity as a fictive person has legal personality and may thus sue and be sued, may make contracts, may hold property in its name, and has the legal status of a natural person in all its transactions entered into in the capacity of a juridical person.
The basic question, it is believed, is whether the concept of a 'juridical person' is acceptable in Shari‘ah or not. Once the concept of 'juridical person' is accepted and it is admitted that, despite its fictive nature, a juridical person can be treated as a natural person in respect of the legal consequences of the transactions made in its name, we will have to accept the concept of 'limited liability' which will follow as a logical result of the former concept. The reason is obvious. If a real person i.e. a human being dies insolvent, his creditors have no claim except to the extent of the assets he has left behind. If his liabilities exceed his assets, the creditors will certainly suffer, no remedy being left for them after the death of the indebted person.
Now, if we accept that a company, in its capacity of a juridical person, has the rights and obligations similar to those of a natural person, the same principle will apply to an insolvent company. A company, after becoming insolvent, is bound to be liquidated: and the liquidation of a company corresponds to the death of a person, because a company after its liquidation, cannot exist any more. If the creditors of a real person can suffer, when he dies insolvent, the creditors of a juridical person may suffer too, when its legal life comes to an end by its liquidation.
Therefore, the basic question is whether or not the concept of 'juridical person' is acceptable to Shari‘ah. Although the idea of a juridical person, as envisaged by the modern economic and legal systems has not been dealt with in the Islamic Fiqh, yet there are certain prcedents wherefrom the basic concept of a juridical person may be derived by inference.

Waqf
The first precedent is that of a Waqf. The Waqf is a legal and religious institution wherein a person dedicates some of his properties for a religious or a charitable purpose. The properties, after being declared as Waqf, no longer remain in the ownership of the donor. The beneficiaries of a Waqf can benefit from the corpus or the proceeds of the dedicated property, but they are not its owners. Its ownership vests in Allah Almighty alone.
t seems that the Muslim jurists have treated the Waqf as a separate legal entity and have ascribed to it some characteristics similar to those of a natural person. This will be clear from two rulings given by the fuqaha’ (Muslim jurists) in respect of Waqf.
Firstly, if a property is purchased with the income of a Waqf, the purchased property cannot become a part of the Waqf automatically. Rather, the jurists say, the property so purchased shall be treated as a property owned by the Waqf. It clearly means that a Waqf, like a natural person, can own a property .
Secondly, the jurists have clearly mentioned that the money given to a mosque as donation does not form part of the Waqf, but it passes to the ownership of the mosque.
Here again the mosque is accepted to be an owner of money. This principle has been expressly mentioned by some jurists of the Maliki school also. They have stated that a mosque is capable of being the owner of something. This capability of the mosque, according to them, is constructive, while the capability enjoyed by a human being is physical.
Another renowned Maliki jurist, namely, Ahmad Al-Dardir, validates a bequest made in favour of a mosque, and gives the reason that a mosque can own properties. Not only this, he extends the principle to an inn and a bridge also, provided that they are Waqf.
It is clear from these examples that the Muslim jurists have accepted that a Waqf can own properties. Obviously, a Waqf is not a human being, yet they have treated it as a human being in the matter of ownership. Once its ownership it established, it will logically follow that it can sell and purchase, may become a debtor and a creditor and can sue and be sued, and thus all the characteristics of a 'juridical person' can be attributed to it.

Baitul-Mal
Another example of 'juridical person' found in our classic literature of Fiqh is that of the Baitul-mal (the exchequer of an Islamic state). Being public property, all the citizens of an Islamic state have some beneficial right over the Baitul-mal, yet, nobody can claim to be its owner. Still, the Baitul-mal has some rights and obligations. Imam Al-Sarakhsi, the well-known Hanafi jurist, says in his work "Al-Mabsut":
"The Baitul-mal has some rights and obligations which may possibly be undetermined."
At another place the same author says: "If the head of an Islamic state needs money to give salaries to his army, but he finds no money in the Kharaj department of the Baitul-mal (wherefrom the salaries are generally given) he can give salaries from the sadaqah (Zakah) department, but the amount so taken from the sadaqah department shall be deemed to be a debt on the Kharaj department".
It follows from this that not only the Baitul-mal, but also the different departments therein can borrow and advance loans to each other. The liability of these loans does not lie on the head of state, but on the concerned department of Baitul-mal. It means that each department of Baitul-mal is a separate entity and in that capacity it can advance and borrow money, may be treated a debtor or a creditor, and thus can sue and be sued in the same manner as a juridical person does. It means that the Fuqaha of Islam have accepted the concept of juridical person in respect of Baitul-mal.

Joint Stock
Another example very much close to the concept of 'juridical person' in a joint stock company is found in the Fiqh of Imam Shafi‘i. According to a settled principle of Shafi‘i School, if more than one person run their business in partner-ship, where their assets are mixed with each other, the Zakah will be levied on each of them individually, but it will be payable on their joint-stock as a whole, so much so that even if one of them does not own the amount of the nisab, but the combined value of the total assets exceeds the prescribed limit of the nisab, zakah will be payable on the whole joint-stock including the share of the former, and thus the person whose share is less than the nisab shall also contribute to the levy in proportion to his ownership in the total assets, whereas he was not subject to the levy of zakah, had it been levied on each person in his individual capacity.
The same principle, which is called the principle of 'Khultah-al-Shuyu‘' is more forcefully applied to the levy of Zakah on the livestock. Consequently, a person sometimes has to pay more Zakah than he was liable to in his individual capacity, and sometimes he has to pay less than that.
That is why the Holy Prophet has said: 'The separate assets should not be joined together nor the joint assets should be separated in order to reduce the amount of Zakah levied on them.
This principle of 'Khultah-al-Shuyu‘' which is also accepted to some extent by the Maliki and Hanbali schools with some vari-
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Cont’d from page 26
ance in details, has a basic concept of a juridical person underlying it. It is not the individual, according to this principle, who is liable to Zakah. It is the 'joint-stock' which has been made subject to the levy. It means that the 'joint-stock' has been treated a separate entity, and the obligation of 'zakah has been diverted towards this entity which is very close to the concept of a 'juridical person', though it is not exactly the same.