A contract of guaranty which is used to secure debts, retaliatory financial obligations (qisas), or other obligations, in the presence of the financially indebted or obligated party. Guaranty, in general, has many different names in Arabic: kafalah, himalah, dhamanah, and za’amah. Each of this names has its own use and purpose. Kafalah is used in guaranteeing persons, himalah in guaranteeing blood money (deyyat), dhamanah in guaranteeing debt (duyun), and za’amah in guaranteeing substantial financial sums.

This type of guaranty is also known as a kafalah bil nafs or kafalah bil wajh.