terminate the agreement, on condition that he relinquishes his right, because in that case he has done the owner of the property nothing but good.

The second view on this issue is that a musāqāh agreement is binding, like a lease. According to this view, its term must be specified. Thus it may be said: “I enter into a musāqāh agreement with you for one year, two years, three years,” or the like. This is because a binding contract must be given a definite term, lest it remain binding indefinitely. Therefore, the term must be specified, and neither party may terminate it as long as that term remains. If the worker becomes unable to perform the work due to illness or otherwise, someone else is appointed to undertake the work at the worker’s expense, while the worker retains the agreed-upon share.

This is the correct view, and it is the practice of people today. It may perhaps be supported by the fact that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ made an agreement with the people of Khaybar for half of whatever fruit or crops it produced, and said: “We shall allow you to remain upon this as long as we wish” (1)—that is, we shall allow you to remain as long as we wish; and so long as you remain, the arrangement continues.

Moreover, if we were to say that it is a non-binding contract, harm and disputes among people would become frequent. A worker might resort to a stratagem: he could approach the owner and take the property under a musāqāh agreement during the musāqāh season, then, once the season has passed, come back to the owner and terminate the agreement. Conversely, the owner may have given this property to the worker to cultivate, but when the owners’ shares increase, he may terminate the agreement and give the worker the customary wage instead. Thus, the correct view is that musāqāh is a binding contract, and its term must be specified.

The author then began to explain what is required of the worker and what is required of the owner, saying: