Bidāyat al-Mujtahid - Ibn Rushd - (4/28)

Bidāyat al-MujtahidIbn Rushd

Book of Agricultural Share-Sharing (Musaqah)
Discussion of musaqah
First: its permissibility.
Second: the criteria for its validity or invalidity.
Third: its legal rulings.

Permissibility of musaqah
As to whether it is lawful, the great majority of jurists—Mālik, al-Shāfiʿī, al-Thawrī, Abū Yūsuf, Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥasan (the two companions of Abū Ḥanīfah), Aḥmad, and Dāwūd—allow it. In their view, the Sunnah treats musaqah as an exception to the general prohibition on selling what does not yet exist and to unspecified lease contracts.

Abū Ḥanīfah, however, holds that musaqah is impermissible in every form.

The majority base their position on the sound report transmitted by Ibn ʿUmar: “The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) handed over the date-palms and lands of Khaybar to the Jews of Khaybar so that they might work them with their own resources, on the understanding that one half of the crop would belong to the Messenger of Allah.” The ḥadīth is recorded by al-Bukhārī and Muslim.

One wording of the report states: “He (peace and blessings be upon him) made a musaqah agreement with them for half of what the land and the trees produced.”

Mālik also relates, in a mursal report from Saʿīd ibn al-Musayyib, that on the day Khaybar was conquered the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said to its Jewish inhabitants: “I let you remain as Allah has kept you, on condition that the fruit is to be divided between us and you.”

He continued: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) used to send ʿAbd Allāh ibn Rawāḥah, who would estimate the yield between him and them, and then say, “If you wish, you may take it; if you wish, I will take it.”

A similar mursal report to the same effect is transmitted from Sulaymān ibn Yasār.

[كِتَابُ الْمُسَاقَاةِ] الْقَوْلُ فِي الْمُسَاقَاةِ: أَمَّا أَوَّلًا: فَفِي جَوَازِهَا. وَالثَّانِي: فِي مَعْرِفَةِ الْفَسَادِ وَالصِّحَّةِ فِيهَا. وَالثَّالِثُ: فِي أَحْكَامِهَا. الْقَوْلُ فِي جَوَازِ الْمُسَاقَاةِ فَأَمَّا جَوَازُهَا: فَعَلَيْهِ جُمْهُورُ الْعُلَمَاءِ مَالِكٌ، وَالشَّافِعِيُّ، وَالثَّوْرِيُّ، وَأَبُو يُوسُفَ، وَمُحَمَّدُ بْنُ الْحَسَنِ صَاحِبَا أَبِي حَنِيفَةَ، وَأَحْمَدُ، وَدَاوُدُ، وَهِيَ عِنْدَهُمْ مُسْتَثْنَاةٌ بِالسُّنَّةِ مِنْ بَيْعِ مَا لَمْ يُخْلَقْ، وَمِنَ الْإِجَارَةِ الْمَجْهُولَةِ. وَقَالَ أَبُو حَنِيفَةَ: لَا تَجُوزُ الْمُسَاقَاةُ أَصْلًا. وَعُمْدَةُ الْجُمْهُورِ فِي إِجَازَتِهَا: حَدِيثُ ابْنِ عُمَرَ الثَّابِتِ: «أَنَّ رَسُولَ اللَّهِ - صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ - دَفَعَ إِلَى يَهُودِ خَيْبَرَ نَخْلَ خَيْبَرَ، وَأَرْضَهَا عَلَى أَنْ يُعْمِلُوهَا مِنْ أَمْوَالِهِمْ، وَلِرَسُولِ اللَّهِ - صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ - شَطْرُ ثَمَرِهَا» ، خَرَّجَهُ الْبُخَارِيُّ وَمُسْلِمٌ. وَفِي بَعْضِ رِوَايَاتِهِ: «أَنَّهُ - صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ - سَاقَاهُمْ عَلَى نِصْفِ مَا تُخْرِجُهُ الْأَرْضُ، وَالثَّمَرَةِ» . وَمَا رَوَاهُ مَالِكٌ أَيْضًا مِنْ مُرْسَلِ سَعِيدِ بْنِ الْمُسَيَّبِ أَنَّ رَسُولَ اللَّهِ - صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ - قَالَ لِيَهُودِ خَيْبَرَ يَوْمَ افْتَتَحَ خَيْبَرَ: «أُقِرُّكُمْ عَلَى مَا أَقَرَّكُمُ اللَّهُ عَلَى أَنَّ الثَّمرَ بَيْنَنَا وَبَيْنَكُمْ» . قَالَ: وَكَانَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ - صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ - يَبْعَثُ عَبْدَ اللَّهِ بْنَ رَوَاحَةَ فَيَخْرُصُ بَيْنَهُ وَبَيْنَهُمْ، ثُمَّ يَقُولُ: «إِنْ شِئْتُمْ فَلَكُمْ وَإِنْ شِئْتُمْ فَلِي» ، وَكَذَلِكَ مُرْسَلُهُ أَيْضًا عَنْ سُلَيْمَانَ بْنِ يَسَارٍ فِي مَعْنَاهُ.