and every aromatic substance and medicinal preparation, whether the payment is made immediately or deferred. Ibn Kinana said, “Land is not to be leased for anything that can spring up again in it, though it may be leased for everything else.” Ibn Nafiʿ said, “Land is not to be leased for wheat or similar grains, for that would be muḥāqala, but it may be leased for anything other than that.” The distilled, operative position of Mālik—followed by the great majority of his disciples—is what I have already set out for you.
It is impermissible to lease land in return for a share of the crop grown on it. If someone nevertheless hands over his land on that basis, the entire produce belongs to the cultivator, and he must still pay the owner the normal rent of comparable land.
There is no objection to leasing rain-fed land, nor to stipulating payment in cash provided the land is secure, having already received sufficient moisture that will not dry out. It is also permissible to lease land in Egypt before it is irrigated from the Nile, though it is disliked to stipulate cash payment in that circumstance; if, however, the tenant volunteers to pay in cash without any stipulation, there is no harm. And if the land is reliably irrigated so that its water supply is not expected to fail, payment in cash is likewise unobjectionable.
If a man rents land to cultivate it and the well collapses before sowing, the lease is void—unless the owner repairs the well so that the tenant can proceed with planting, in which case the rent remains binding. Should the tenant already have sown the land when the well collapses, he may either annul the lease or spend on the well up to the amount of one year’s rent, provided he has not yet paid it; if he has paid it, he may reclaim that sum to spend on the well. If sufficient water thereafter reaches the land, the rent is due; if it does not, he owes nothing, nor is the landlord liable for the tenant’s expenditure.
ʿAbd al-Malik said: “If someone leases land for several years, cultivates it, and then the well collapses, he may spend on it up to the total rent of all those years, if the land requires it.” It is permissible to lease land for one year or for two.