Book of Stipulated Reward (Juʿl)

Juʿl is a form of hire in which payment is promised for a benefit whose attainment is merely expected—such as a physician stipulating payment upon the patient’s recovery, a teacher for the pupil’s attaining proficiency, or a herald for locating an absconding slave.

The jurists differ over whether it is prohibited or permissible. Mālik holds that it is permissible in small matters provided two conditions are met: first, that no fixed term is set for its completion; and second, that the payment be specified. Abū Ḥanīfah deems it impermissible, while al-Shāfiʿī has two opinions on the question.

Those who permit it rely on the Almighty’s words: “Whoever brings it shall have a camel-load, and I stand surety for it” (Qurʾān 12:72); on the consensus of the majority that it is allowable with regard to runaway slaves and public proclamations; and on the report approving the acceptance of payment for a therapeutic incantation performed with Sūrat al-Fātiḥah, as mentioned earlier.

Those who prohibit it cite the element of uncertainty (gharar) it involves, by analogy with other forms of hire.

Within the Mālikī school there is no disagreement that nothing of the stipulated reward becomes due until the work is fully completed and that the contract itself is not binding.

Mālik and his companions disagree in this regard about hiring a ship: is it juʿl or a normal lease (ijarah)? Mālik says—and Ibn al-Qāsim concurs—that the owner is entitled to no hire until the vessel reaches its destination, treating it as juʿl. Ibn Nāfiʿ maintains that the owner is entitled to a proportionate amount corresponding to the distance already covered, treating it as an ijarah. Aṣbagh says: if the ship has entered deep waters it is juʿl; if it has not, then it is an ijarah, and the owner is entitled to payment proportionate to the point reached.

The discussion in this chapter therefore concerns its permissibility, its proper sphere, its conditions, and its rulings. Its proper sphere comprises actions from which the one who offers the reward derives no benefit from any part of the work. For if he were to benefit from part of what the contractor has done without the contractor bringing about the benefit for which the juʿl was concluded, and we maintained that under the rules of juʿl nothing is due unless that benefit is achieved, then the stipulator would have enjoyed the contractor’s labour without paying for it—and that is injustice. For this reason the jurists disagree in many cases about whether a matter is juʿl or ijarah, such as the aforementioned ship—does juʿl apply to it or not?—and likewise in the case of rewards offered for digging wells.

They say regarding al-mughārasa that it resembles juʿl from one angle and a sale from another. According to Mālik it is that a man gives his land to another on condition that the latter plant in it a specified number of fruit-bearing trees; once the trees take hold and bear fruit, the planter receives the agreed-upon share of the land.