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Fatwa CenterQuestion about sharecropping
Question
Dear Shaikh Assalam o alaikum I want further clarification regarding fatwa no. 164735 in which I was told that my contract of sharecropping is invalid. Now I want to know how to make valid contract for sharecropping. Is it permissible If I provide the seeds, fertilisers and pesticides while t he land owner provides his land and work (he may get the work done by hiring labour) and the yield to be shared 1/2 each.If not then what are the permissible arrangement in sharecropping ie who will contribute with what If I being the one party and the land owner being the second party. Also is sharecropping allowed in vegetables? please answer soon. jazakallah khair.
Answer
All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, is His slave and Messenger.
If you provide seeds, fertilizers and the like, while the owner of the land provides his land and he works in it or gets the work done by hiring laborers, then this is not permissible if the land is valuable and is considered important. This is because in this case it would include renting the land against its produce (in return), which is forbidden.
According to the book from the Maaliki school of jurisprudence, entitled 'Minah Al-Jaleel ‘Ala Sharh Mukhtasar Khaleel', “If one of them [i.e., of the two parties] gives the seeds (i.e. the produce) and the other works and provides the land, then if the land has a value then this is not acceptable (impermissible). And if the land has no value, then there are two opinions: Sahnoon 
is of the view that it is permissible, and he based his opinion on the view that it is permissible to volunteer with something that is insignificant in the contract; whereas Ibn ‘Abdoos is of the view that this is forbidden. Ibn Yoonus considers that this includes renting the land along with its crops, and his (Ibn Yoonus) is the correct opinion.”
Indeed, you may rent the land from its owner for a known price and then you may give him the land, seeds and fertilizers and the like so that he may cultivate it [the land] with a percentage from its produce on which you both agree – either a third, a fourth or half. In this case, there is no difference if he carries out the work by himself or hires people to work on his behalf.
It is permissible for the contract of sharecropping to include vegetables. Shaykh Attiyyah Mohammad Saalem said in his explanation of Buloogh Al-Maraam, "With regard to the kind of produce in which sharecropping contract is permissible, then it is said (the answer is): seeds such as wheat, barley and similar grains. It was also said that it can be in anything that is cultivated, including vegetables. Imaam Maalik mentioned that it can be done in Qiththaa' (Egyptian cucumber), and what is similar to it, and that it can be given to the worker [farmer] to work with it by sharecropping [contract]."
Allaah Knows best.
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