under the contract is not something the Lawgiver has required to be delivered in a particular manner; rather, this is governed by what the two parties have stipulated in the contract. Accordingly, if someone sells date palms that have not been pollinated, their fruit belongs to the seller according to Mālik, al-Shāfi'ī and Imam Ahmad, as indicated by the Sunnah. The seller may enter the property to attend to his fruit, even though this is inconsistent with complete possession.

Likewise, if someone sells a married slave woman, the right to marital relations remains with her husband and is not included in what the purchaser takes possession of for himself, by agreement of the four imams. The same applies to leased property according to most scholars. For this reason, groups of these scholars consider it valid to continue enjoying an asset’s benefits in cases of sale, gift, endowment, manumission and the like, as indicated by the hadith … (1). This is the position of Mālik and Ahmad.

Thus, when possession of leased property is handed over, it remains the lessor’s responsibility with respect to its benefit, even while it yields income through the tenant’s use. If it is destroyed by a natural calamity, the lessor bears the loss, by agreement of the Muslims. Mālik, Ahmad and others hold the same view concerning the sale of fruit when a calamity strikes it.

In short, no contract is forbidden except one prohibited by a scriptural text, scholarly consensus, or an analogy corresponding in meaning to what a text or consensus establishes. None of these grounds exists in a lease commencing at a future date. If someone leases land containing crops belonging to another person, those crops remain there for their owner at the prevailing rent, just as they would remain had the land not been leased. Allah knows best.