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

Is it permissible to lease orchards and land containing date palms or other trees before their fruit has begun to ripen, for one or two years, or not?

He replied:

Praise be to Allah.

There are three opinions on this issue.

The first is that this is impermissible under all circumstances, on the grounds that it falls within the Messenger of Allah’s prohibition—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—against selling fruit before it has begun to ripen. It is therefore impermissible, just as it is outside such a lease: for example, purchasing the fruit alone after it has appeared but before it has begun to ripen, with the seller bearing the expense of watering and tending it until it is fully ripe.

This is the well-known position in the schools of al-Shāfiʿī and Ahmad, and it is transmitted as an explicit ruling of Ahmad. Abū Hanīfah’s position on this is even more restrictive.

The proponents of this opinion disagree over whether it is permissible to circumvent this prohibition by leasing out the land and entering into a tree-tending contract stipulating a very small share of the fruit. They hold two opinions. Ahmad’s explicit ruling is that this is impermissible. Al-Qādī Abū Yaʿlā stated in his book Ibtāl al-hiyal (Invalidating Legal Stratagems):