Hanbal and all his followers, early and late; Ishāq ibn Rāhawayh; Abū Bakr ibn Abī Shayba; Sulaymān ibn Dāwūd al-Hāshimī; Abū Khaythama Zuhayr ibn Harb; most of the Kufan jurists, such as Sufyān al-Thawrī, Muhammad ibn ‘Abd al-Rahmān ibn Abī Laylā, and Abū Yūsuf and Muhammad, the two disciples of Abū Hanīfa; al-Bukhārī, the compiler of the Sahīh; Abū Dāwūd; the great majority of later hadith jurists, such as Ibn al-Mundhir, Ibn Khuzayma, al-Khattābī, and others; the Zāhirīs; and most of Abū Hanīfa’s followers—was that sharecropping, leasing, and similar arrangements are permissible. In this they followed the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace), the practice of his caliphs and Companions, the way of the early generations, and the practice of the majority of Muslims. They also explained the meanings of the hadiths on this subject that appear to conflict.

Among the evidence is the arrangement that the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) made with the people of Khaybar, which his caliphs continued after him until ‘Umar expelled them.

Ibn ‘Umar reported:

“The Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) made an agreement with the people of Khaybar in return for half of its yield of fruit or crops.”

Al-Bukhārī and Muslim both recorded this. They also both recorded from Ibn ‘Umar:

“The Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) entrusted the land of Khaybar to its people on condition that they work and cultivate it, receiving half of its yield.”

This is al-Bukhārī’s wording. Muslim’s wording is:

“When Khaybar was conquered, the Jews asked the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) to allow them to remain there on condition that they work the land in return for half its yield of fruit and crops. The Messenger of Allah then said