[Book of Leases]

[Section One: The various forms of ijārah and the conditions of validity and invalidity]

In the name of Allah, the Most Compassionate, the Most Merciful

The Book of Ijārah (Leasing/Hiring)

The mode of inquiry in this book resembles that followed in the Book of Sales: its principles are confined to examining the different kinds of ijārah, the conditions that render each of them sound or unsound, and the rulings that flow from them—considered, in every instance, both with respect to what is unique to each type and to what is common to more than one.

Accordingly, the present book is divided, first of all, into two parts:

Part One: on the various kinds of ijārah and the conditions of validity and invalidity.

Part Two: on the legal rulings that pertain to ijārah contracts.

All of this comes after the proof for the permissibility of ijārah has been established. We shall therefore begin by setting out the points of disagreement, and then move on to discuss the well-known questions that arise under these two parts, for our purpose is to mention only those issues that function as mother-topics—the ones famous for the divergence of opinion among the jurists of the different regions.

We say, then: ijārah is deemed permissible by all the jurists of the major centers and by the earliest generation. It is related, however, from al-Aṣamm and Ibn ʿUlayyah that they forbade it.

The majority’s proof is the Almighty’s statement:

“Indeed, I wish to marry you to one of these two daughters of mine…” (Q 28:27),

and His statement:

“If they breastfeed [the child] for you, then give them their wages.” (Q 65:6).

From the firmly established Sunnah is what al-Bukhārī recorded from ʿĀʾishah, who said:

“The Messenger of Allah—peace and blessings be upon him—and Abū Bakr hired a man from Banū Dīl, an expert guide, who was still on the religion of the idolaters of Quraysh. They handed over to him their two mounts and appointed to meet him at the Cave of Thawr after three nights, with those same mounts.”

There is also the ḥadīth of Jābir:

“He sold the Prophet—peace and blessings be upon him—a camel and stipulated that he might ride it until they reached Madinah.”

Whatever it is lawful to benefit from by stipulation may likewise be lawfully benefited from for a wage.

The objection of those who forbid ijārah is that in transactions of exchange, entitlement to the price is conditional upon delivery of a tangible object, as is the case with perceptible commodities, whereas the benefits in ijārah do not yet exist at the time of contract. That, they say, is gharar and amounts to selling what has not yet been created.

We reply: although those benefits, while