He was also asked—may Allah have mercy on him—about someone who leased land, but it did not receive its usual rainfall and the crops perished: “Is the rent to be reduced on account of the calamity?”

He answered:

If someone leases land for cultivation and the usual rainfall does not come, he has the right to rescind the lease, by scholarly consensus. Indeed, if the land becomes unusable, the lease terminates without rescission, according to the stronger view. If, however, the benefit is diminished, the rent is reduced in proportion to that diminution. Ahmad ibn Hanbal and others expressly stated this.

Thus, one asks: “What would the rent for the land be with the usual supply of water?” The answer is: “One thousand dirhams.” Then one asks: “What would its rent be with this degree of rainfall deficiency?” The answer is: “Five hundred dirhams.” Half the stipulated rent is therefore deducted for the tenant, because part of the benefit to which he was contractually entitled was lost before he could obtain it. This is comparable to part of a purchased item being destroyed before the buyer could take possession of it.

Likewise, if locusts, fire, or another calamity strikes the land and destroys some of the crops, the rent is reduced in proportion to the reduction in benefit. As for the crops that are destroyed, their owner bears the loss; no compensation is owed to him by the owner of the