Chapter on Partnership
Introduction
Shirkah (partnership) carries three morphological patterns: it can follow the pattern of sariqah, of ni‘mah, or of thamarah.
Lexically, it means commingling or mixing. The Almighty says, “And indeed, many partners wrong one another.” (38:24)
One may say: sharaktuka fī-l-amr (“I partnered with you in the matter”) or ashraktuhu fīhi (“I included him in it”), meaning, “I became his sharik (partner) in it.”
In the Sacred Law, shirkah is of two kinds:
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Shirkah amlāk (partnership of ownership): Two or more persons jointly own a financial right—whether real estate, movable property, or a usufruct detached from the underlying asset—through purchase, gift, inheritance, or any other means. In this form each partner is, with respect to the other’s share, an outside party and may not dispose of it without the latter’s permission.
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Shirkah ‘uqūd (partnership by contract): A joint right of disposal in matters such as sale and the like. This is the type intended here. In it, every partner’s act is effective: with regard to his own portion by virtue of ownership, and with regard to his co-partner’s portion by virtue of the agency inherent in the partnership.
The legitimacy of partnership is established by the Quran, the Sunnah, scholarly consensus, and analogical reasoning.
As for the Quran, the Almighty says, “And indeed, many partners wrong one another.” (38:24)