Chapter on Orchard-Sharing Contracts

Shaykh al-Islām—may Allah have mercy on him—said:

Section

In my earlier discussion of principles, including principles of jurisprudence, I explained what the Quran and Sunnah teach about people upholding justice, and how this extends to transactions, encompassing both exchange contracts and partnerships. I mentioned that “orchard-sharing, sharecropping, and profit-sharing investment arrangements,” and similar contracts, are forms of partnership. I also explained some of the errors made by those who regard these as exchange contracts, like sales and leases, and consequently apply the rules governing exchange contracts to them.

I explained that sharecropping is permissible whether the seed is supplied by the landowner or the cultivator, as established by the Sunnah of Allah’s Messenger, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and by clear legal analogy. I also explained that the hadith narrated by Rāfi‘ ibn Khadīj and others prohibiting mukhābara (sharecropping) and the leasing of land refers to their practice of stipulating that the produce of a particular plot should belong to the landowner