Ruling on sharecropping
23-2-2004 | IslamWeb
Question:
I want to know the permissibility of Sharecropping and Giving Farms (agricultural lands) on the basis of fixed rent or for some yield produced.
I read some Ahadith of Saheeh Bukhari in which it was stated that sharecropping and giving farms on rent was permitted initially and later forbidden. Even Ibn Umar (Radiya Allahu Anhu) gave up renting his lands after hearing Hadith from Rafi’bin Khadij (Radiya Allahu Anhu) that you should either cultivate the land or let it cultivated by others or to keep it uncultivated. Ibn Hajar (Rahimahullah) is of opinion that renting land for its yield is disallowed whereas renting for money is allowed. There is a lot of confusion. Please give the most correct opinion?
Answer:
Praise be to Allah, the Lord of the Worlds; and may His blessings and peace be upon our Prophet Muhammad and upon all his Family and Companions.
There is no harm in renting land for a permissible work, like farming or planting or for building and so on.
Imam Ibn Mundhir (may Allah be pleased with him) said in the book of al-Ijma’: ‘They agreed that renting a land in return of gold and silver for a limited period of time is permissible’. However, Tawuss and Hassan said that this is disliked.
However, if the land is agricultural, and good for farming, planting or building then the benefit (profit) has to be defined.
Al-Nawawi (may Allah have mercy on him) stated in Al-Minhaj: ‘If the land is good for farming, planting and building, then the profit has to be defined beforehand. It is enough in principle to define the farming by what is planted in it. If it is stated that one can benefit from it by whatever means he wishes, it is correct. It is the same if it is said: ‘If you wish you farm it or you plant it’, this is correct as well.
There is no harm in renting land for something precise, like money, gold or silver. The evidence is in the authentic Hadith that Handhala bin Qays asked Rafi’ bin Khadij about renting land. He replied: ‘The Prophet (Sallallahu Alaihi wa Sallam) forbade us to rent land. He said, I asked: ‘Is it forbidden to rent it for gold and silver? He replied: ‘he forbade to rent it for what comes out of it as crops/production; it is permissible to rent it for gold and silver’.
The juristic reasoning by analogy to gold and silver is all what is definite even the food, be it similar to what is produced from it or not.
This is the Madhab of Shafi’e and Hanafi, and another narration by Ahmad.
Renting land, as it is known, is renting benefits, and the benefit of land is calculated according to its production, but the land itself remains.
However, the majority of the scholars say that it is Haram to rent land in exchange of a given part of its production. This is the preponderant opinion, because the production is not known at the time of signing the rent contract. That’s why it is forbidden to rent land in return of a part of its production according to the view Imam Muslim.
Allah knows best.