Chapter on Leasing

Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah—may Allah have mercy on him—was asked:

A man leased another man land containing fruit-bearing trees and open ground for a specified rent and a specified term. The open ground alone is not worth the full rent; rather, part of the rent corresponds to the open ground and part is in exchange for the fruit. They drew up a document stipulating a lease of the land and a fruit-sharing arrangement for tending the fruit-bearing trees. Is this valid or not?

If it is valid, does it include fruit-bearing walnut trees and everything else that bears fruit, on the grounds that they are fruit-bearing? May the lessor include some and exclude others, even though they are fruit-bearing, or not? If an agreement to tend trees in return for a share of their fruit is a matter of widespread practical concern, and one judge considers it permissible, may another judge invalidate it or not?

He replied:

Leasing orchards containing both land and trees for a number of years is valid. This is the position adopted by Ibn ‘Aqīl and others. It is established that the Commander of the Faithful, ‘Umar ibn al-Khattāb, leased out an orchard belonging to Usayd ibn al-Hudayr for three years after his death and used the proceeds to pay off his debt. There are many such instances, which this fatwa does not allow room to set out in detail.