What is the distribution of compensation if multiple people jointly complete an act for which a single, general reward was promised?
General Chapter
Al-Mughni
Book of Lost-and-Found Property
Primary text
If a contractor states, 'Whoever returns my lost property shall have one Dinar,' and three people return it, the single Dinar is divided among them in thirds. This is because they shared in the act that merits the reward, necessitating their sharing in the compensation, similar to wages in a hire contract. This differs from the case where multiple people pass through a specified passage (Naqb), where each earns the full reward because each individual's action constituted a complete fulfillment of the condition, unlike the shared act of returning the property.
Supporting text
If the promise was stated generally, 'Whoever returns one of my slaves shall have one Dinar,' and each of the multiple individuals returned a separate slave, then each individual earns the full Dinar, as each completed the entirety of the conditional act independently.