In tree-sharing, the stipulated portion due to the worker is a share of the principal asset—that is, the trees themselves. If you give someone land for tree-sharing, must the young saplings be provided by the landowner, or may they be provided by the worker?

The answer is that, according to the madhhab, they must be supplied by the landowner, exactly as in sharecropping. However, the view adopted by the author is that this is not a condition.

Thus, you may say: “So-and-so, here is uncultivated land capable of accommodating a thousand trees. Take it for tree-sharing on a fifty-fifty basis.” According to the author’s view, the worker purchases the saplings. Then, when the term of the tree-sharing arrangement ends, the palm trees are divided. According to the madhhab, however, it is necessary for the landowner to pay the cost of the saplings.

But the correct view is the one adopted by the author: it is not a condition. Accordingly, partnership arrangements involving crops, palm trees, and other trees are of three types: tree-sharing, orchard-sharing, and sharecropping. The ruling on each of them has now been explained, and all praise is due to Allah.

His statement, “This is the practice of the people,” means the farmers, because the basis for this is the Prophet’s ﷺ arrangement with the people of Khaybar for half of whatever it produced of fruit or crops. As mentioned previously, it has not been reported that he supplied them with the seed. Thus, this was the people’s practice from the time of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ.

The apparent meaning of the author’s words is that this continued until his own time: the people’s practice is that the seed is supplied by the worker, up to our own day. Without doubt, this is the correct view.

His statement, “This is the practice of the people”: is the practice of the people evidence or not? We know that the four sources of evidence are the Quran, the sunnah, consensus, and analogy,