people without their permission has no share in the crop, but is entitled to his expenses.” Ahmad and other hadith jurists therefore acted upon this hadith. Some of those who accepted it nevertheless regarded it as contrary to analogy and as an instance of juristic preference. This was because of the aforementioned analogy that had taken root in their minds: that the crop follows the seed and the tree follows the fruit stone. Yet what the sunnah establishes is the sound analogy indicated by innate human nature, for casting seed into the earth is exactly like placing semen in a womb.

[For this reason, Allah Most High called women “tilth” in His saying, “Your wives are a tilth for you” [al-Baqara: 223], just as He called cultivated land “tilth.” In establishing ownership of an animal, it is the mother’s side that takes precedence.] Accordingly, a human child follows the mother rather than the father in being free or enslaved, and the fetus of an animal belongs to the owner of the mother, not to the owner of the sire from whose semen it developed. This is because the constituents it receives from the mother are many times greater than those it receives from the father; the father’s role is only to initiate the process. There is no doubt that it is created from both of them.

The same applies to grain and fruit stones: most of the constituents from which the tree and crop are created come from the soil, water, and air. This may affect the land, so that it [is weakened] by being cultivated. Yet because these constituents are continually replenished, Allah—Glorified is He—continues to supply the earth with water, air, and soil, whether transformed from something else or already present. The loss of earthen constituents does not affect the land at all, either because they are replaced through transformation or because of their abundance. It therefore becomes apparent that the constituents of the earth are akin to benefits, unlike the grain and fruit stone cast into it: each is a tangible substance that is consumed, not replenished, and no compensation is made