“He is the One who enables you to travel on land and sea, until, when you are aboard ships and they sail with them on a favourable wind, and they rejoice in it” [Yūnus: 22]. The Most High also says:
“And We have certainly honoured the children of Adam and carried them on land and sea” [al-Isrā’: 70].
Section
Allah Most High has thus granted us ownership of livestock and beasts of burden, made them tractable for us, and permitted us to put them to work and benefit from them, out of His mercy towards us. Any animal that a person owns and may lawfully put to work may also be hired out, by the consensus of the scholars, with no disagreement among them on this matter.
Section
Hire is a binding contract: once concluded, it binds both parties, and neither has the option to dissolve it unless that party has stipulated such an option, exactly as in a sale. It involves a price and something supplied in return; uncertainty and unspecified terms are therefore impermissible. It is valid only when both the payment and what is provided in return are known. The hire charge must be specified, together with the period if the animal is hired for a particular length of time, or the distance if it is hired for a journey to a particular place. What is to be carried on the animal, or the work for which it is to be used, must also be specified, unless the parties contract on the basis of a custom known to them both, in which case that custom takes the place of explicit specification.
Section
If someone hires out an animal, fixes a period for its hire, and also specifies a destination or a particular task, this falls under the heading of two periods within one period. It therefore resembles what the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) prohibited: two sales in one sale, and two conditions in a sale. There are two opinions concerning this. The first is that the hire is invalid and must be annulled; if death occurs, the owner is entitled to the customary hire charge for comparable use, taking into account the speed or slowness of travel. The second is that the hire is valid and is not to be annulled. The owner is entitled to the stipulated charge if the agreed destination is reached within the agreed period, and to the customary charge for comparable use if it is not reached within that period. This applies when the period is sufficiently long that the agreed destination can certainly be reached within it, unless the hirer falls short or is negligent. But if it is