the Ansār. We used to lease land on condition that this plot would be ours and that one theirs. Sometimes one would yield a crop while the other yielded nothing. So he forbade us to do that. As for silver, he did not forbid us to lease land for it.”

Muslim also narrated that Hanzalah ibn Qays said:

“I asked Rāfiʿ ibn Khadīj about leasing land for gold and silver. He replied: ‘There is nothing wrong with it. During the lifetime of the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, people used to lease land in return for the crops growing along the large waterways, at the heads of the irrigation channels, and in certain other portions of the cultivated land. This portion would perish while that one was spared, and this one would perish while that one was spared. People had no other form of rent, and that was why they were forbidden to do this. But there is nothing wrong with a specified and guaranteed payment.’”

Here, then, is Rāfiʿ ibn Khadīj—the principal transmitter of this hadith—stating that, during the lifetime of the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, their only form of rent was the crop from a designated part of the field. This arrangement is undoubtedly forbidden according to all jurists, who have also forbidden its counterpart in profit-sharing investment partnerships. Thus, if one party stipulated that he would receive the profit from a particular garment, that would not be permissible.

Such uncertainty in partnerships is akin to uncertainty in exchange transactions. The fundamental principle governing these exchanges and reciprocal transactions is fairness between the two sides. If either side involves uncertainty or usury, injustice enters the transaction, so Allah forbids it: He has forbidden injustice for Himself and made it forbidden among His servants.

Thus, if it is impermissible for one party to a sale to take possession of the price while the other remains exposed to risk—and this is why the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, forbade selling fruit before it begins to ripen—