This is the report transmitted by Īsā from Ibn al-Qāsim in the Book of Trade with the Abode of War. In Sahnūn’s transmission from him, Ibn al-Qāsim expressed reservations about marrying their daughters, but did not regard it as forbidden.

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Orchard sharecropping is an exception to otherwise prohibited forms of transaction because of people’s necessity and need for it. People cannot tend their orchards themselves, nor—if they have no funds—sell the fruit before it begins to ripen in order to use the proceeds to hire workers for that purpose. It is for this reason that orchard sharecropping was permitted.

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Orchard sharecropping is a distinct contractual category and a contract in its own right. According to Ibn al-Qāsim’s position, it can therefore only be concluded using the term musāqāh (orchard sharecropping). If a man said to another, “I hire you to tend this orchard of mine in return for half its fruit,” this would not be valid according to his position, just as a hiring contract cannot validly be concluded using the term musāqāh. This is clear from his statement in the book that, if someone enters into a sharecropping arrangement for fruit some of which has already ripened, it is not permissible and is treated as a hiring contract. Sahnūn, by contrast, permits it and treats it as a hiring contract. A similar position is attributed to Mālik in Ibn al-Mawwāz’s book. Ibn al-Qāsim’s position is sounder, because orchard sharecropping and hiring are two distinct contractual categories governed by different rules; neither can therefore be concluded using the term for the other.

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Orchard sharecropping is a binding contract: it is concluded and becomes binding through verbal agreement. This differs from an investment partnership, which is concluded and becomes binding only through the work, not through verbal agreement. There is disagreement concerning agricultural sharecropping. One view is that it is concluded and becomes binding through verbal agreement; another is that it is concluded and becomes binding only through performance of the work; and a third is that it is concluded and becomes binding upon commencement of the work. As for a partnership, it does not become binding either through verbal agreement or through work. There is disagreement, however, over how it is concluded: one view is that it is concluded through verbal agreement, while another is that it is concluded only through work. Both views may be inferred from al-Mudawwanah.