Book of Leasing and Hiring (Ijāra)

The prerequisites of an ijāra are identical to those of a sale: a valid offer and acceptance. The offer may be worded, “I lease this to you,” “I rent it to you,” or “I grant you ownership of its usufruct for one year in return for such-and-such.” The lessee then replies, “I accept,” “I have leased it,” or “I have rented it.” The stronger opinion is that the contract is concluded by saying, “I have leased you its usufruct,” whereas it is not concluded by saying, “I have sold you its usufruct.”

Ijāra is of two kinds:

1. Concerning a specific item (ʿayn), such as leasing a particular house, animal, or person.
2. Concerning a liability (dhimma), such as hiring an animal described only by its attributes, or committing oneself to perform sewing or construction. If one says, “I hire you to do such-and-such,” the more common view treats it as hiring a specific person, although another opinion regards it as a liability ijāra.

For a liability ijāra it is a condition that the wage be handed over in the same session. In the ijāra of a specific item this is not required. Where the contract is on liability, the wage may be paid either in advance or on deferment; if left unspecified it becomes due immediately. When the hired object is specific, the usufruct passes to the lessee the moment the contract is concluded.

The wage must be precisely determined, so the contract is invalid if the remuneration is set as building works, fodder, the hide taken for flaying, part of the flour produced by grinding, or the bran. If, however, a woman is hired to nurse a slave infant in return for an immediately delivered share of that slave, the contract is valid on the sounder opinion.

The benefit itself must have recognized monetary value. Thus it is invalid to hire a salesman in return for nothing more than the expression “Don’t tire yourself,” even if it boosts sales; likewise one may not hire gold or silver coins merely for ornamental display, nor—on the preponderant view—hire a hunting dog.

The lessor must be able to deliver the usufruct. For that reason it is invalid to hire a runaway slave, a usurped item, a blind man as a guard, or farmland for cultivation that has no permanent water source and whose ordinary rainfall is insufficient. Leasing such land becomes permissible if it possesses a permanent supply of water, or if the local rainfall alone is enough for its needs.