or a dirham?” He replied, “There is no harm in leasing it for a dinar or a dirham.” What was prohibited was an arrangement that anyone versed in lawful and unlawful matters would deem impermissible upon examining it, because of the risk it involved.

Usayd ibn Zuhayr related: “Whenever one of us had no need of his land, he would turn it over in return for one-third, one-quarter, or one-half of the produce, while stipulating for himself the produce beside three irrigation channels, the qusāra—the grain remaining in the ears after threshing—and whatever the small stream irrigated. Life was hard at that time. He would work the land with iron implements as much as Allah willed and derive benefit from it. Then Rāfi ibn Khadīj came to us and said, ‘The Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) prohibits you from field leasing and says: “Whoever has no need of his land should grant it to his brother, or else leave it.”’” Ahmad and Ibn Mājah narrated it.

Abu Dāwūd narrated the Prophet’s statement (may Allah bless him and grant him peace), while Ahmad’s version adds: “He also prohibits you from muzābana.” Muzābana is when a man owns a large estate of date palms and another man comes to him and says, “I will take its crop in exchange for such-and-such a measured quantity of dried dates.” The qusāra is what falls from the ears of grain.

Sa‘d ibn Abī Waqqās and Jābir likewise reported the same. Sa‘d reported: “During the lifetime of the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace), the owners of farms used to lease them in return for the crops growing along the irrigation channels and whatever crop around the well was well watered. They came before the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) and disputed about this. The Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) therefore prohibited them from leasing land in that manner and said, ‘Lease it for gold or silver.’” Ahmad, Abu Dāwūd, and al-Nasā’ī narrated it.

This explicitly authorizes leasing for gold and silver and shows that the prohibition concerned only stipulating the crop from a specified area.

Jābir (may Allah be pleased with him) related: “During the lifetime of the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace), we practiced sharecropping in return for a share of the grain remaining in the ears after threshing and a share of such-and-such other produce. The Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) said, ‘Whoever owns land should cultivate it, grant it to his brother, or else leave it.’” Muslim narrated it.