upon. They also agreed that he would travel to Egypt and then return to Damascus, and that if selling in Damascus proved unsuitable, he would travel to Iraq and Persia. A partnership deed was drawn up stipulating that all the assets would be in the purchaser’s hands, to sell and buy, receive and disburse. They recorded that the partnership had been formed with dirhams, although it could only have taken the form described above.

When they arrived in Alexandria, they quarrelled. The owner of the cloth demanded payment from the purchaser and required him to divide the cloth, sell it there at a loss, and pay him the purchase price. Is this sale, which they agreed upon subject to the partnership, valid or invalid? If the purchaser is a partner, may the owner entrust him with receiving the assets, selling and buying, and receiving and disbursing?

If the sale is invalid, the owner is entitled only to his original property. Yet this working partner has worked with it on the understanding that he would receive half the profit. Is he entitled to claim half the profit or not? After this working partner has done the work and the cloth has been transported from Syria to Alexandria, may the owner take back the cloth, leaving the worker’s labour and efforts unrewarded? Or is the worker entitled to claim payment for his work, or a share of the profit customary for comparable work? Please give us a ruling.

He replied—may Allah have mercy on him:

Praise be to Allah.

This transaction is invalid on several grounds.

One is that it combines a sale with a partnership, which is impermissible. The jurists have agreed that it is impermissible to make a sale conditional upon another contract of this kind. Thus, one may not sell to someone on condition that the latter lend to him. Likewise, one may not lease to someone on condition that the latter enter into an agreement with him to tend trees for a share of their fruit; nor may one form a partnership with someone on condition that one borrow from him; nor sell to someone on condition that one buy from him, or enter into similar