valid. Or if he says to him: “You may have some of it, and I may have some of it,” this is invalid. Or if he says: “You may have whatever barley you cultivate, while I shall have whatever wheat you cultivate,” this is invalid. Or if he says: “You may have the crop of this year, while I shall have the crop of the second year,” this is invalid. Thus, the profit must be a known, undivided share.
The same applies to muḍārabah. If I give this man money to trade with and say to him: “You may have some of the profit, and I may have some of it,” this is invalid. Or if I say: “You may have the profit of this month, while I shall have the profit of the second month,” this is invalid.
Or: “You may have the profit of what you bring from Mecca, while I shall have the profit of what you bring from Medina,” this is invalid. Or: “You may have the profit from automobiles, while I shall have the profit from foodstuffs,” this is invalid.
The essential point is that all of this contravenes the fundamental principle of partnership: the two partners share alike in gain and liability for loss.
“Loss is borne in proportion to the capital, and it is not a condition that the two capitals be mixed together or that they be of the same type.”
His statement, “Loss is borne in proportion to the capital”: loss means a reduction in value—that is, a financial loss. Thus, loss is borne in proportion to the capital, unlike profit, which is distributed according to their stipulated terms. If one of them contributes ten thousand and the other contributes twenty thousand, the capital is now divided into thirds. If they agree that the loss will be shared equally, this is invalid, because the loss must be borne in proportion to the capital. If the partnership incurs a loss, the owner of the ten thousand bears one-third of it, and the owner of the twenty thousand bears two-thirds. It is not valid for the loss to be apportioned otherwise. This is why he said, “Loss is borne in proportion to the capital.”
As for profit, it is distributed according to their stipulated terms. That is, if one of them contributes twenty thousand and the other ten thousand, and they agree that the profit will be divided equally between them, this is valid, even though the profit differs from the proportion of their capital.