The Book of Agriculture

"My paternal uncle sent me with a slave of his, to Sa'eed bin Al-Musayyab to ask him about Al-Muzara'ah. He said: 'Ibn 'Umar did not see anything wrong with it, until he heard the Hadith from Rafi' bin Khadij. Then he met him, and Rafi' said: "The Prophet came to Banu Harithah and saw some crops. He said: 'How good are the crops of Zubair.' They said: 'It is not Zubair's.' He said: 'Is the land not Zubair's?' They said: 'No (it is not his), rather he is leasing it.' The Messenger of Allah said: 'Take your crops and give him what he spent.' So we took our crops, and gave him what he had spent."

"The Messenger of Allah forbade Al-Muhaqalah and Al-Muzabanah, and said: 'Only three may cultivate: A man who has land which he cultivates; a man who was given some land and cultivates what he was given; and a man who takes land on lease for gold or silver.'"

"The Messenger of Allah forbade Al-Muhaqalah." Sa'eed said: "And he narrated something similar." And Sufyan Ath-Thawri reported it from Tariq.

"I heard Sa'eed bin Al-Musayyab say: 'Cultivating land is not allowed except in three cases: Land which one owns, land which is given to one, or land which one rents in return for gold and silver.'"

It was narrated from Sa'eed bin Al-Musayyab that the Messenger of Allah forbade Al-Muhaqalah and Al-Muzabanah.

"At the time of the Messenger of Allah landowners used to lease their arable land in return for whatever grew on the banks of the streams for irrigation. They came to the Messenger of Allah and referred a dispute concerning such matters to him, and the Messenger of Allah forbade them to lease land on such terms, and said: 'Lease it for gold or silver.'"

"At the time of the Messenger of Allah we used to lease land on the basis of Al-Muhaqalah, so we would lease it in return for one-third or one-quarter of the yield, or a specified amount of food (produce). One day, a man among my paternal uncles came and said 'The Messenger of Allah has forbidden me to do something that was beneficial for us, but obedience to Allah and His Messenger is more beneficial for us. He has forbidden us to lease land on the basis of Al-Muhaqalah and to lease it in return for one-third or one-quarter of the yield, and for a specified amount of food (produce). And he commanded the landowner to cultivate it (himself) or to give it to someone else to cultivate. He did not like leasing it or anything else.'"

"Ya'la bin Al-Hakim wrote to me (saying): 'I heard Sulaiman bin Yasar narrating from Rafi' bin Khadij, who said: "We used to lease land on the basis of Al-Muhaqalah, leasing it in return for one-third or one-quarter of the yield, and a specified amount of food (produce)."'"

"We used to lease land on the basis of Al-Muhaqalah during the time of the Messenger of Allah." He said that one of his paternal uncles came to them and said: "The Messenger of Allah has forbidden me to do something that was beneficial for us, but obedience to Allah and His Messenger is more beneficial." We said: "What is that?" He said: "The Messenger of Allah said: 'Whoever has land, let him cultivate it (himself) or give it to his brother to cultivate, and not lease it in return for one-third or one-quarter of the yield nor a specified amount of food (produce).'"

"My paternal uncle told me that they used to lease land at the time of the Messenger of Allah in return for what grew on the banks of the streams, and a share of the crop stipulated by the owner of the land. But the Messenger of Allah forbade us that." I (Hanzalah) said to Rafi': "How about leasing it in return for Dinars and Dirhams?" Rafi' said: "There is nothing wrong with (leasing it) for Dinars and Dirhams."

"I asked Rafi' bin Khadij about leasing land in return for Dinars and silver. He said: 'There is nothing wrong with that. During the time of the Messenger of Allah they used to rent land to one another in return for what grew on the banks of streams and where the springs emerged - some areas of which might give good produce and some might give none at all - and the people did not lease land in any other way. So that was forbidden. But as for leases where the return is known and guaranteed, there is nothing wrong with that.'"

"I asked Rafi' bin Khadij about leasing land. He said: 'The Messenger of Allah forbade leasing land.' I said: 'For gold or silver?' He said: 'No, rather he forbade leasing it in return for what the land produces. As for gold and silver, there is nothing wrong with that.'"

"I asked Rafi' bin Khadij about leasing uncultivated land in return for gold and silver. He said: '(It is) permissible and there is nothing wrong with that. That is the due of the land.'"

"The Messenger of Allah forbade us to lease our land. At that time there was no gold nor silver. A man would lease his land in return for what grew on the banks of streams and where the springs emerged, and in return for something specific."

It was narrated from Az-Zuhri that Salim bin 'Abdullah narrated something similar.

"O Ibn Khadij, what do you narrate from the Messenger of Allah about leasing land?" Rafi said to Abdullah: "I heard two of my uncles, who had been present at Badr, telling the people in the house, that the Messenger of Allah forbade leasing land." Abdullah said: "I knew that at the time of the Messenger of Allah land used to be leased." Then Abdullah was concerned that the Messenger of Allah had decreed something and he had not known about it, so he stopped leasing land.

"We heard that Rafi bin Khadij used to narrate that his paternal uncles -whom he said had been present at Badr- (said) that the Messenger of Allah forbade leasing land."

"Az-Zuhri said: 'Ibn Al-Musayyab used to say: 'There is nothing wrong with leasing land in return for gold and silver, and Rafi bin Khadij used to narrate that the Messenger of Allah forbade that.''"

"The Messenger of Allah forbade leasing land." Ibn Shihab said: "Rafi was asked after that: 'How did they lease land?' He said: 'In return for a set amount of food (produce), and it was stipulated that we would have whatever grew on the banks of the streams and springs.'"

"We knew that he owned some arable land that he leased at the time of the Messenger of Allah in return for whatever grew on the banks of the streams of water, and for a certain amount of straw, I do not know how much it was." Ibn Awn reported it from Nafi but he said: "From some of his paternal uncles."