then gives it to a farmer to cultivate, with half of the crop—for example—belonging to him. This is permissible, because one contributes the labor while the other contributes the land. The same applies to trees: one contributes the land and the trees, while the other contributes the labor.

Muḍārabah is when a person gives his wealth to someone to trade with, in return for a share of the profit.

For example, he gives a man one hundred thousand riyals to trade with, on the condition that he receives half the profit. This is what we call muḍārabah.

In all three of these arrangements, one party must be assigned a known, undivided share.

Thus, in musāqāh, if he says to him: “Take these trees, work on them, and you may have some of their fruit,” this is invalid, because it is unspecified. Or if he says: “Take these trees, work on them, and you may have the fruit of the Sukkari trees, while the rest is mine,” this is invalid, because perhaps these trees will bear fruit while those will not. Or if he says: “Take this land and its trees; you may have its fruit in year sixteen, and I shall have its fruit in year seventeen,” this is invalid, because it is indeterminate: it may bear fruit in one year but not in the other. Or if he says: “Take this land and tend its trees under a musāqāh arrangement; you may have the fruit of its western section, while I shall have the fruit of its eastern section,” this is invalid. Or if he says: “Take this land under a musāqāh arrangement, and you may have one hundred saʿ of its fruit, while the rest is mine,” this is invalid, because it is not an undivided share.

The same applies to muzāraʿah. If he says to him: “Take this bare land and cultivate it this year. You may have the eastern part of the crop, while I shall have the western part,” this is not