Umdat at-Talib - Al-Buhuti - (1/158)

Sharecropping (muzāraʿa)
Sharecropping is valid ⦗1⦘ when the cultivator receives a specified, undivided share of the crop, provided that the seed and its amount are known and that the seed is supplied by the landowner—just as the saplings are in a planting partnership ⦗2⦘. If the owner both leases him the land and concludes a musāqāt contract for its trees, the agreement is sound and is not regarded as a legal stratagem ⦗3⦘.

Chapter on Leasing (ijāra) ⦗4⦘
A lease is concluded by using the term ijāra itself, or the words kirāʾ and bayʿ when these are linked to the usufruct ⦗5⦘.

Its conditions are three.

First: the benefit must be identified—either by customary practice, such as residing in a house or the service of a person, or by descriptive detail, such as carrying a load, ploughing, writing, or leading a blind man, and the like ⦗6⦘.

Second: the wage must be known, just as the price is known in a sale. The hire of a labourer or a wet-nurse ⦗7⦘ may lawfully be their food, and

(1) Muzaraʿa (share-cropping): handing over land together with seed to someone who will cultivate and manage it, or handing over standing crops that grow through labour to the person who tends them. (2) Manasaba, also called mugharasa (tree-planting share-cropping): transferring young trees to someone who will plant and care for them. (3) In manuscript (C) the text reads additionally: “wa-musaqat” (orchard share-cropping). (4) Ijara (lease or hire): a contract for a lawful, specified benefit deriving from a particular item or an item described in the debtor’s liability, for a fixed period, or for specified work in return for a known compensation. (5) Manuscripts (A) and (B) read: “yabiʿ” (“he sells”). (6) The word “aʿma” (“blind”) appears only in the base manuscript; it is absent from the other copies. (7) Al-dhiʾr: the wet-nurse.

[المُزَارَعة] وتصح المزارعة (١) بجزء مشاعٍ مَعْلومٍ من زرعٍ بشرط علم بذرٍ وقَدْرِهِ، وكونه مِن رَبِّ أرضٍ كغرس في مناصبة (٢) ، وإذا آجَرَهُ أرضاً وسَاقَاهُ (٣) على شجرهَا صَحَّ بلا حيلة. باب الإجارة (٤) تصحُّ بلفظها، ولفظ كَرَى وبيع (٥) مُضافاً للمنفعة. وشروطها ثلاثة: مَعْرفِةُ منفعَةٍ بعُرف كسُكنى دارٍ، وخِدمة آدمي، أو وصفٍ كحملٍ وحرثٍ وكتابةٍ وقَود أعمى (٦) ونحوها. الثاني: معرفةُ أجرةٍ، كثمنن، وتصح في أجيرٍ وظئيرٍ (٧) بطعامهما، ومن

(١) المزارعة: دفع أرض وحب لمن يزرعه ويقوم عليه، أو دفع حب مزروع ينمي بالعمل لمن يقوم عليه. (٢) المناصبة هي المغارسة: وهي دفع الشجر لمن يغرسه. (٣) في (ج): "ومساقاة". (٤) الإجارة: عقد على منفعة مباحة معلومة من عين معينة أو موصوفة في الذمة، مدة معلومة، أو عمل معلوم بعوض معلوم. (٥) في (أ) و (ب): "يبيع". (٦) قوله: "أعمى" من (الأصل) وليس في بقية النسخ. (٧) الظِئر هي: المُرْضِع.