Arabic (أرش) for difference. In the realm of sales (buyu) and commutative contracts, it is the difference between the price of an object (commodity, asset, etc) in its spotless/ undamaged state and its price with defects. Put differently, it is the price reduction which the seller offers to the buyer should the underlying object turn out to be not free from defects or of lower-than-standard quality. For example, if the buyer finds out, after taking a vehicle into his possession (qabdh), that it shows some mechanical defects, he can either turn it back to the seller and redeem the full price paid, or accept a partial refund against those defects. So, if its defect-free price is $20,000 and its price with defects is estimated to be $15,000, then arsh would be $5,000.

In a different context, arsh could also refer to the settlement or indemnification made to a bodily injured party (hence its known as wound money: penalty for wounds or arsh al-jinayah in Arabic). The arsh amount is then damages paid for a non-fatal injury.