leasing, or the invalid form of sharecropping that they used to practise, as distinct from valid sharecropping, the evidence for which will follow. This was the arrangement the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) employed with the people of Khaybar, and which the Rightly Guided Caliphs after him and the rest of the Companions practised.

This is supported by the fact that Ibn ‘Umar, who stopped leasing land after Rāfi‘ related the hadith to him, continued to narrate the hadith concerning the people of Khaybar as one who based his legal rulings upon it. Moreover, the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) prohibited muhāqala, muzābana, sharecropping, and selling future years’ produce, all of which involve uncertainty. Such uncertainty is more apparent in leasing than in sharecropping, as explained earlier.

Those who permit leasing but not sharecropping cite the report narrated by Muslim in his Sahīh from Thābit ibn al-Dahhāk:

“The Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) prohibited sharecropping and instructed that land be leased, saying, ‘There is nothing wrong with it.’”

This explicitly prohibits sharecropping and instructs that land be leased. Furthermore, as will be related below, Rāfi‘ ibn Khadīj—who narrated the hadith from the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace)—reported:

“The Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) did not prohibit them from leasing it for a specified, guaranteed payment. Rather, he prohibited the form of sharecropping they used to practise.”

The view adopted by all the hadith jurists who brought together all its chains of transmission—including Ahmad ibn