the Messenger of Allah ﷺ for the growth that appeared on the banks of the irrigation channels, at the mouths of the watercourses, and on selected patches of the crop; this portion might perish while that remained sound. People had no other form of land rent than this, and for that reason he forbade it”—meaning, the Prophet ﷺ—because it involved harm that led to disputes and to devouring people’s wealth unjustly.

The hadith therefore proves that sharecropping is prohibited whenever it brings about harm, uncertainty, and quarrelling among people.

Ibn al-Mundhir said, “Reports have come from Rafiʿ citing causes that show the prohibition was on account of those very practices to which they were accustomed.” He added, “We used to lease land on condition that this section would be ours and that section theirs; sometimes our section produced while theirs produced nothing.” End quote.