and this was given to me as a gift.’ The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said, ‘What is the matter with a man whom we appoint to carry out some of the duties Allah has entrusted to us, who then says, “This is for you, and this was given to me as a gift”? Why did he not sit in his father’s and mother’s house and see whether he would receive any gifts? By Him in whose hand is my soul, any man whom we appoint to carry out some of the duties Allah has entrusted to us, and who misappropriates anything from it, will come on the Day of Resurrection carrying it on his neck: if it is a camel, it will be bellowing; if a cow, it will be lowing; and if a sheep, it will be bleating.’ Then he raised his hands towards heaven and said, ‘O Allah, have I conveyed the message? O Allah, have I conveyed the message?’ He said this twice or three times.”

The point here is that these duties, which are collective obligations, become an individual obligation upon a person when no one else undertakes them, especially if others are incapable of doing so. Thus, when people need a group’s farming, weaving, or building services, that work becomes obligatory. If they refuse, the ruler compels them to undertake it for the customary remuneration. He does not allow them to demand more than the customary remuneration from people, nor does he allow people to wrong them by paying them less than their due. For example, if troops assigned to jihad need their land cultivated, he requires those whose occupation is farming to cultivate it for them. The troops are required not to wrong the farmer, just as the farmer is required to cultivate the land for the troops.

Sharecropping is permissible according to the sounder of the two scholarly opinions, and it was the practice of the Muslims during