from their own resources, how could Ahmad cite that arrangement as evidence for muzāraʿah, then extend its ruling by analogy to the same transaction when framed as a lease, yet prohibit the very case he cited as his basis—muzāraʿah in which the cultivator supplies the seed?!

“The Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) said to the Jews, ‘We shall allow you to remain there for as long as Allah allows you to remain.’” He stipulated no fixed term such that it could be said to have been a binding lease. Yet when Ahmad stated—in one of the two reports from him—that the seed must be supplied by the owner, he said so only in deference to those who required it by analogy with mudārabah (profit-sharing partnership). If a scholar gives a ruling based on a position and its supporting proof, although there exists a stronger counterargument against both, he did not have that stronger counterargument in mind at the time. Later, when Ahmad ruled that leasing land in return for one-third of its crop was permissible, citing the muzāraʿah of Khaybar as evidence, he must have understood that the cultivator had supplied the seed at Khaybar; otherwise, his inference would not have been valid.

Even if we suppose that Ahmad distinguished between leasing land in return for a portion of its yield and muzāraʿah in which the cultivator supplies the seed, as a group of his associates did, the basis of this distinction has no grounding in revealed law. Ahmad did not hold that the rulings governing contracts differ merely because their wording differs, as did a group of his associates who permitted this transaction when framed as a lease but prohibited it when framed as muzāraʿah. They likewise permitted the sale, with immediate delivery, of an item owed as an obligation when framed as a sale, but prohibited it when framed as salam, because it would then constitute salam with immediate delivery. Ahmad’s explicit statements and legal principles reject this, as we previously explained when discussing contractual formulas. In all verbal legal acts, decisive consideration is given to their meanings, not to the legal effects attached to particular expressions. This is demonstrated by his answers concerning oaths, vows, bequests, and other legal acts. Even if he himself did distinguish between the two, as did a group of his associates, this distinction would constitute an outweighed report from him, like the report prohibiting both transactions.

As for the evidence that this is permissible, it consists of the Sunnah, consensus, and analogy.

As for the Sunnah, it is the aforementioned arrangement made by the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) with the people of Khaybar, on condition that