The principal argument advanced by those who permit leasing the land for any form of consideration—movable goods, foodstuffs, or whatever else the land itself yields—is that the contract concerns a clearly defined benefit exchanged for a clearly defined payment. By analogy with all other rentals of usufruct, they deem it lawful, and they appear to regard the ḥadīths of Rāfiʿ as weak.

It is related from Sālim ibn ʿAbd Allāh, and others, concerning Rāfiʿ’s report, that they said: “Rāfiʿ himself leased land.” They add that one version of his narration, which must govern the rest, states: “We were the people of Madinah with the most farmland. One of us would lease out his land and say, ‘This plot is mine and that one is yours,’ yet it might happen that this plot produced while that one did not; so the Prophet—peace and blessings be upon him—forbade them to do that.” Al-Bukhārī records the report.

Those who do not allow the land to be leased for a share of its own produce rely on both rational analysis and transmitted texts. As for the texts, they cite the Prophet’s—peace and blessings be upon him—prohibition of mukhābarah and the ḥadīth of Ibn Khadīj, transmitted from Ẓuhayr ibn Rāfiʿ, who said:

“The Messenger of Allah—peace and blessings be upon him—forbade us something that was meant as a mercy to us. I therefore said, ‘Whatever the Messenger of Allah—peace and blessings be upon him—says is the truth.’ He summoned me and asked, ‘What are you doing with your fields (maḥāqil)?’ We replied, ‘We rent them out for a quarter share, or for measured loads of dates and barley.’ The Messenger of Allah—peace and blessings be upon him—said, ‘Do not do that; cultivate them yourselves, have them cultivated by others, or keep them.’” This ḥadīth is authenticated by both Imām al-Bukhārī and Muslim.

Those who permit leasing the land for a portion of its produce base themselves on the sound report from Ibn ʿUmar:

“The Messenger of Allah—peace and blessings be upon him—handed over the date-palms and farmland of Khaybar to its Jewish inhabitants, on condition that they work them at their own expense and receive half of whatever the land and its trees yielded.”

They argue that this ḥadīth takes precedence over the narrations of Rāfiʿ, whose wordings are mutually inconsistent. Even if Rāfiʿ’s reports are deemed authentic, they should be understood as indicating dislike rather than outright prohibition. This is supported by what al-Bukhārī and Muslim transmit from Ibn ʿAbbās: “The Prophet—peace and blessings be upon him—did not forbid it; he only said, ‘If any of you grants land to his brother (without charge), that is better for him than taking something from him.’” They further note that when Muʿādh ibn Jabal arrived in Yemen, having been sent there by the Messenger of Allah—peace and blessings be upon him—he found the people practicing mukhābarah and he left them to it.

With respect to hiring a muʾadhdhin, some scholars see no harm in it, while others deem it reprehensible. Those who censure and forbid it cite the report of ʿUthmān ibn Abī al-ʿĀṣ, who narrated that the Messenger of Allah—peace and blessings be upon him—said, “Appoint…"