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

A village was endowed for two beneficiaries, with their shares held jointly and undivided. The administrator acting for one beneficiary supplied its farmers with a specified quantity of wheat and other seed for cultivation. The farmers sowed it on the jointly owned land, with nothing contributed on behalf of the other beneficiary. Those representing the other beneficiary now demand a share of the crop produced from the seed that the administrator supplied to the farmers. Are they entitled to this? Is the administrator’s statement to be accepted concerning what he supplied and his claim that it belonged exclusively to one beneficiary? If the yield belongs exclusively to one beneficiary, may anyone contest their entitlement to it?

He answered:

Those representing the other beneficiary are not entitled to share with the owners of the seed as they would have done had they also sown seed. However, if the farmers cannot sow separately because the land is held in undivided ownership and the co-owners refuse to partition it or cooperate, then the entire crop belongs to the owner of the seed, provided that he cultivates an area corresponding to his undivided share.

If he treats the cultivation of the non-participating party’s share as a sharecropping arrangement—with the seed supplied by its owners, the land by the other party, and the labour by the cultivator—the crop is divided among them as it would be had they entered into a partnership for this purpose, according to the prevailing custom in such cases. For the cultivator is not a usurper; rather, he is authorized by custom to cultivate the land.