partners in what We have provided you, so that you are equal therein?” [Quran 30:28]. This indicates that partnership is possible.

As for its legal classification, it is a non-binding contract rather than a binding one, meaning that either partner may terminate the partnership.

Question: Is partnership preferable, or is it preferable to act independently? That is, is it better for a person to manage his own wealth himself without taking a partner, or is partnership preferable?

The answer is that one cannot categorically say that one is preferable or not preferable. However, if a person is undecided, acting independently is preferable, because he remains free with regard to his wealth: if he wishes, he may give voluntarily; if he wishes, he may withhold; if he wishes, he may give charity; and if he wishes, he may accumulate it. It is also generally safer. Yet a person may be unable to manage his wealth himself and therefore need a partnership. Thus, permitting partnership is among Allah’s blessings and His mercy to His creation. Otherwise, if it were said that no one may dispose of anything except his own private wealth, this would impose undue restriction. A person may possess great wealth but lack the ability to manage it, whether because of physical incapacity, limited judgment, preoccupation with seeking knowledge, or something similar. If he has substantial wealth, he may give it to someone skilled in buying and selling and say, “Take this wealth, buy and sell with it, and you will receive half the profit, a quarter of the profit, or something similar.”

“It is of various types. An ‘inān partnership is for two persons to combine their known capital—even if it is unequal—in order to work with it through their own labor.”

His statement, “It is of various types,” indicates that the evidence for this classification appears to be examination and inductive study. Examination and inductive study are among the methods of establishing evidence, although