He—may Allah have mercy on him—was asked:

Two men entered into a partnership, one contributing an animal and the other some dirhams. They pooled these contributions, agreeing to share whatever profit Allah Most High allotted them, and subsequently made a profit. What is the ruling?

He replied:

The animal’s value is assessed, and that value together with the dirhams constitutes the capital, which they own jointly. According to our view, partnership and division of property are validly effected by verbal agreement, without requiring the two contributions to be physically mingled or separated. Joint ownership is established through a partnership agreement, just as separate ownership is established through an agreement to divide the property and settle the accounts. Whatever profit they make is shared between them. When they divide the property, the animal is sold, and they divide its proceeds together with the remaining funds.

This is clear if we regard a partnership formed with non-monetary assets as valid. Even if we regard it as invalid, an invalid partnership follows the same rules as a valid one regarding liability or its absence, and the validity or invalidity of transactions. They differ only in permissibility and, according to one of the two views, in the amount of profit each receives.

The apparent position of Ahmad’s school is that the profit is distributed as the partners stipulated. According to the other view, the profit follows the respective capital contributions, and the other partner receives the customary wage for comparable work. The sounder view in this case is that he receives the customary share of profit for comparable work. Thus, there are three views.