Book 10: Leasing (Ijārah)
Leasing is a contract for the use of an asset’s benefits in return for compensation. The contract is not valid unless both the benefits to be enjoyed and the rent to be paid are specified. Whatever may serve as a sale price in a purchase may likewise serve as rent in a lease.
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The benefit may be defined by a time-period, such as renting houses for residence or land for cultivation; in such cases the contract is valid for whatever fixed term is agreed.
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It may be defined by the work and its description, as when someone hires a man to dye or sew a garment, or hires an animal to carry a specified load or to be ridden for a stated distance.
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It may be defined by designation and pointing, as when someone hires a man to move this particular food to a known place.
It is permissible to rent houses and shops for dwelling even if no particular activity is stipulated; the tenant may conduct any activity there except blacksmithing, cloth-fulling, or milling.
Land may be leased for cultivation, but the contract is not valid unless the intended crop is named or the lessor says, “He may plant in it whatever he wishes.”
One may lease an open plot to build upon it or to plant palm trees or other trees. When the lease term expires, the lessee must remove the building and the trees and deliver the land empty—unless the landowner chooses either to pay the lessee their value once removed, thereby taking ownership of them, or to let them remain as they are, in which case the building belongs to the lessee and the land to the owner.
Animals may be hired for riding or carrying loads. If the stipulation is, “So-and-so is to ride it,” or “So-and-so is to wear the garment,” and the lessee allows someone else to ride the animal or wear the garment, he is liable if the animal dies or the garment is damaged.
The same rule applies to every item whose condition varies according to the person using it.
As for real estate