least because gratuitous giving is properly made only from resources beyond one’s needs. Thus, if someone needs the benefit of his land, it is not recommended that he grant its use free of charge. The Muslims likewise needed the benefit of the land of Khaybar, and the Ansār, during the early days of Islam, needed their own land and therefore entered into sharecropping arrangements over it with the Muhājirūn.

Islamic law may require gratuitous giving in times of need, just as “the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) forbade them to store the meat of sacrificial animals because of the newcomers who had arrived,” so that they would feed the hungry, since feeding them was obligatory. Accordingly, when the Muslims needed the benefit of the land while its owners had no need of it, he prohibited the owners from taking compensation, thereby inducing them to grant its use freely. He did not expressly command that specific act of gratuitous giving; rather, he forbade them from taking compensation, just as he had forbidden them to store the meat. Anyone prevented from benefiting from his property will readily make it available, since it will not be left idle. At times, the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace)—and indeed even rulers—may prohibit certain forms of what is ordinarily permissible under particular circumstances because doing so benefits those subject to the prohibition, just as he forbade them from certain things during some military campaigns.

As for Jābir’s report that the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) prohibited mukhābarah (sharecropping), it was this form of mukhābarah that he prohibited. Here, the definite article denotes that specific, previously known practice, and this was the only practice they knew as mukhābarah.

This is clarified by the report in the Sahih from Ibn ʿUmar, who said: “We saw no harm in khibr until last year, when Rāfiʿ stated that the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) had prohibited it; we therefore abandoned it on the strength of his report.” Ibn ʿUmar thus related that Rāfiʿ narrated the prohibition of khibr, and the meaning of Rāfiʿ’s hadith has already been explained.

Abū ʿUbayd said: “Khibr—with an i-vowel on the initial consonant—means mukhābarah. Mukhābarah is sharecropping for one-half, one-third, one-quarter, or a smaller or larger share.” Abū ʿUbayd used to say: “This is why a cultivator is called a khabīr: because he engages in mukhābarah over the land.” Mukhābarah is the same as muʾākarah (tenant sharecropping).