684 – Jabir (may Allah be pleased with him) reported that “the Prophet ﷺ forbade al-muḥāqala, al-muzābana, al-mukhābara, and al-thunyā unless its terms are fully known.” The hadith was narrated by the Five compilers except Ibn Mājah, and al-Tirmidhi declared it sound (1).

Grade of the hadith:
The report is ṣaḥīḥ. Al-Shāfiʿī recorded it through the chain of Ibn ʿUyaynah—from Ibn Jurayj—from ʿAṭāʾ—from Jabir; and from al-Shāfiʿī it was transmitted by al-Ṭaḥāwī and al-Bayhaqī. A version is also found in Muslim. Al-Tirmidhi and Ibn Ḥibbān classed it as ṣaḥīḥ, and al-Nawawī rated it ḥasan in al-Majmūʿ. Al-Albānī said: “Its isnād is ṣaḥīḥ according to the criteria of the Two Shaykhs, even though Ibn Jurayj narrates it with ʿanʿana.”

Glossary of the hadith’s terms:
• al-muḥāqala: from ḥaql (cultivated land). It is the sale of grain that has hardened in its ears for the same kind of grain already harvested.

• al-muzābana: linguistically, zabn means “to push forcefully,” hence the phrase “a fierce (zabūn) battle.” In jurisprudence it is the purchase of fresh dates still on the palm with dried dates. The name reflects the many quarrels that arise between the transacting parties.

• al-mukhābara: derived from khabār (soft soil) and refers to sharecropping. The forbidden form occurs when the landowner gives his land to a cultivator, who ploughs and works it in return for a specified portion of the yield, such as the crops growing along the irrigation channels