Chapter: Partnership

It is joint participation in an entitlement or a disposition …

His statement, “Partnership”: The word sharika may be pronounced in three ways: sharaka, sharika, or shirka, and all are permissible.

Its basic meaning is intermingling; thus, intermingling is called partnership.

The author defines it as follows:

“It is joint participation in an entitlement or a disposition.”

His statement, “joint participation in an entitlement,” means that something belongs jointly to two or more people, who share in it by virtue of an entitlement. This is called a partnership of ownership.

An example is heirs who inherit real estate from their father. They share in an entitlement without there being a contract between them. The same applies to the joint share of fighters in war booty, or when a book is gifted to two people. It may also relate to benefits rather than tangible property, such as when two people are granted the use of a house.

Its evidence is the saying of Allah: “But if there are more than that, then they share one third.” [Quran 4:12] This is joint participation in an entitlement, and such participation is called a partnership of ownership.

His statement, “or a disposition,” refers to what is called a contractual partnership. This is the type which the author has divided into the following five categories: namely, that they enter into a contract