The view that orchard and crop sharecropping are permissible is held by the majority of the early generations—the Companions, the Successors, and others. It is also the position of al-Layth ibn Sa‘d, Ibn Abī Laylā, Abū Yūsuf, Muhammad, and the hadith jurists, such as Ahmad ibn Hanbal, Ishāq ibn Rāhawayh, Muhammad ibn Ishāq ibn Khuzayma, Abū Bakr ibn al-Mundhir, al-Khattābī, and others.

The correct view is that crop sharecropping is more lawful than leasing for a specified rent, because it is closer to justice and further removed from risk. The contracts prohibited by the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, include those that fall under usury, which is forbidden in the Quran, and those that fall under games of chance—that is, gambling. Sales involving contractual uncertainty are a form of gambling and games of chance. Thus, when rent or a purchase price involves uncertainty—for example, something that has neither been described nor seen, and whose kind is unknown—this constitutes contractual uncertainty and gambling.

It is well known that the tenant seeks to benefit from the land by obtaining a crop from it. Once he pays the specified rent, the landlord has certainly obtained what he sought. The tenant, however, does not know whether he will obtain a crop or not. Crop sharecropping is different: both parties share in the gain and in receiving no return. The same applies to capital-and-labor partnerships: if anything is gained, they share it; if nothing is gained, both receive no return. The loss of the benefit of one party’s property is thus matched by the loss of the benefit of the other party’s labor.