forbids you to lease land in this way and says: “Whoever has no need to cultivate his land should let his brother use it freely or leave it uncultivated.”’” Reported by Ahmad and Ibn Mājah. Abū Dāwūd also reported the Prophet’s words, peace and blessings be upon him. Ahmad adds:

“He also forbids you to engage in muzābana.”

Muzābana is when a man owns a large grove of date palms and another man comes to him and says, “I will take it for such-and-such a number of wasqs of dried dates.” The threshing remnants are the grain that falls from the ears.

Sa'd ibn Abī Waqqās and Jābir likewise reported this. Sa'd related:

“During the lifetime of the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, landowners used to lease their fields in return for the crops growing along the irrigation channels and those around the well that received water. They came to the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, disputing over this. He forbade them to lease land on those terms and said, ‘Lease it for gold and silver.’”

Reported by Ahmad, Abū Dāwūd, and al-Nasā’ī. This explicitly permits leasing land for gold and silver and makes clear that the prohibition concerned only stipulating entitlement to the crops of a particular part of the land.

Jābir, may Allah be pleased with him, said:

“We used to practise sharecropping during the lifetime of the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, in return for a share of the threshing remnants and of such-and-such. The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said, ‘Whoever owns land should cultivate it, let his brother use it freely, or leave it uncultivated.’”

Reported by Muslim. Thus, these Companions of the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, who transmitted his prohibition also explained the particular arrangement he prohibited and the reason for its prohibition. And if