the report of Ibn Umar:

“Qabāla contracts (estate-leasing arrangements) constitute usury.”

He replied: “It means taking on a village estate containing date palms and non-Arab, non-Muslim peasants.”

He was asked: “What if it contains no date palms and is simply bare land?”

He replied: “There is nothing wrong with that; in this case, he is merely a tenant.”

He was asked: “What if there are such peasants on it?”

He replied: “That is the disapproved form of qabāla.”

Harb said: Ubayd Allah ibn Muādh narrated to us: My father narrated to us: Shuba narrated to us, from Jabala, who heard Ibn Umar say:

“Qabāla contracts constitute usury.”

The answer is: In transactions where deferment is permissible, usury arises only through an unequal exchange of things of the same kind. Thus, when rent, a purchase price, or something similar is described as usury despite deferment being permissible, it is because the transaction involves exchanging things of the same kind in unequal quantities. Usury is either usury through deferment—which occurs only where deferment is permissible—or usury through an excess, which occurs only within a single kind. Once usury through deferment, meaning delay, is ruled out, only usury through an excess remains: an increase in the quantity of one of two things of the same kind.

This occurs when the estate is leased in return for produce of the same kind as its yield—for example, when someone takes on land containing fruit-bearing date palms. It is then like muzābana.

This resembles leasing land in return for produce of the same kind as that grown on it, when the rent is owed as a personal liability. An example is leasing land to grow wheat in return for a specified quantity of wheat. Two positions are reported from Ahmad on this matter. One is that it constitutes usury, which is also Mālik’s position. This resembles the qabāla that Ibn Umar disapproved of: the person has taken on the land to grow wheat in return for a specified quantity of wheat. It is therefore as though he had purchased wheat in exchange for wheat that might be greater or smaller in quantity; thus the usurious element becomes apparent.