Chapter: Liability Partnerships and Labor Partnerships in Work

A partnership that rests solely on personal liability is not permissible unless it is accompanied by actual capital and by manual labor carried out in the same workplace, with the partners’ prior agreement and their joint presence. According to Malik, a labor partnership is permissible for tradespeople such as teachers, physicians, tailors, dyers, blacksmiths, divers, and fishermen, provided that each partner performs the same type of work as the other and they operate in one location. If they are not together in a single place, the partnership is invalid; the same ruling applies if they are engaged in different kinds of work. There is no objection to their sharing the proceeds of a single job equally—even when one of them is more skilled—so long as equality in the work itself is explicitly stipulated.