who said: “I asked Rāfi ibn Khadīj about leasing land for gold and silver. He replied, ‘There is no harm in it. During the lifetime of the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace), people would lease land in exchange for the crops along the banks of waterways, at the heads of irrigation canals, and in certain portions of the field. One portion would be blighted, another would remain unharmed, and another would be blighted. This was the only form of land lease practiced by the people, and that is why they were forbidden from it. As for a specified, guaranteed payment, there is no harm in it.’”

Thus, Rāfi ibn Khadīj—upon whom the hadith principally turns—states that, during the lifetime of the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace), their only form of land lease was one in which the crop from a specified part of the field was assigned as rent. All jurists, without exception, hold this form to be prohibited, and they have also prohibited its analogue in profit-sharing investment partnerships. Thus, if the profit from one specific piece of cloth were stipulated, it would not be permissible. The prohibited uncertainty involved in partnerships is analogous to that involved in exchange contracts.

The fundamental principle governing such exchanges and reciprocal transactions is equivalence between the two sides. If either side involves prohibited uncertainty or usury, injustice enters the transaction. Allah—who has forbidden injustice for Himself and made it forbidden among His servants—has therefore prohibited it. Accordingly, it is impermissible for one party to a sale to take possession of the price while the other remains exposed to risk. For this reason, the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) prohibited the sale of fruit before signs of its ripeness appear.

The same applies here: if the parties assign a specified tract to one of the partners, they depart from what the partnership inherently requires, for partnership entails sharing in the yield. If one partner alone is assigned the specified tract, the other retains no share in it, and the arrangement comes to involve risk and the essence of gambling. This is as Rāfi stated: “Sometimes this tract would yield a crop while the other yielded nothing.” One party would gain while the other lost out, and this is the essence of gambling. Rāfi also stated: “During the lifetime of the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace), they had no form of land lease other than this,” and that the Prophet prohibited it only because it involved