and thus it becomes apparent that the constituents of the soil are akin to benefits derived from property, unlike the grain and fruit stones cast into it: these are tangible property that is consumed, neither replenished nor replaced. Yet this alone does not mean that the seed constitutes the sole capital contribution. Both the cultivator and his oxen require food and fodder throughout the period of work, and these too are consumed, whereas the landowner has no comparable need. Hence they agree that the seed is not returned to its provider as capital is returned in a profit-sharing partnership. Had they treated it as capital, it would have been returned.

It is therefore clear that this transaction comprises three things: enduring assets, namely the land, the cultivator’s body, the oxen, and the iron implements; benefits exhausted through use; and material constituents that are likewise consumed, namely the seed and some of the material constituents of the soil, the cultivator, and his oxen. These consumable constituents are exactly like the benefits exhausted through use. It is therefore for the two parties to decide which of them will provide these constituents, and they may form a partnership on whatever terms they wish, provided this does not entail any of the forms of contractual uncertainty, usury, or wrongful appropriation of wealth that the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, prohibited. This is why Ahmad permitted all kinds of partnership resembling orchard-tending and sharecropping arrangements, such as entrusting one’s beast, boat, or other property to someone who works with it, with the earnings shared between them.

Section

What we have mentioned by way of indicating the rationale governing sales involving contractual uncertainty and matters resembling