وفي حديثه عليه السلام :
A tradition of Amir al-mu'minin, peace be upon him) says:
إِنَّ الرَّجُلَ إِذَا كَانَ لَهُ الدَّيْنُ الظَّنُونُ يَجِبُ عَلَيْهِ أَنْ يُزَكِّيَهُ لِمَا مَضَى إِذَا قَبَضَهُ.
If a man has a "ad-daynu'z-zanun" (i.e. doubtful loan) it is his duty to pay zakat thereon for all the past years when he recovers it.
فالظَّنُونُ: الذي لايَعْلَمُ صاحبُهُ أيقبضُه من الذي هو عليه أم لا، فكأنّه الذي يُظَنُّ به، فمرة يرجوه و مرة لا يرجوه. و هو من أفصح الكلام، وكذلك كلّ أمرٍ تطلبه ولا تدري على أي شيء أنت منه فهو ظَنون،
as-Sayyid ar-Radi says: "az-zanun" is the loan about which the lender does not know whether he will be able to recover it from the borrower. He is like the one who hopes as well as loses hope. This is the most eloquent way of expression. In this way everything about which you do not know where you stand would be zanun.
وعلى ذلك قول الاَعشى:
In the same strain poet al-A' sha (Maymun ibn Qays al-Wa'ili [d. 7/629] )says:
مَا يُجْعَلُ الْجُدُّ الظَّنُونُ الَّذِي * جُنِّبَ صَوْبَ اللَّجِبِ الْمَاطِرِ
The az-zanun well (i.e., the one that may or may not have water) which is also deprived of the rain of the raining clouds
مِثْلَ الْفُرَاتِيِّ إِذَا مَا طَمَا * يَقْذِفُ بِالْبُوصِيِّ وَالْمَاهِرِ
cannot be compared to the Euphrates whose waves are rising high and which is pushing away the boat as well as the adept swimmer.
والجُدّ: البئر، والظنون: التي لا يُدرى هل فيها ماء أم لا.
"Judd" means the well (situated in a wilderness), while zanun is that about which it is not known whether or not it has water.
