Is an agreement valid where one party provides land for planting, and the resulting trees are shared between the owner and the planter based on a specified share of the fruit?
General Chapter
Al-Mughni
Book of Sharecropping (Musāqāh)
Primary text
An agreement is valid where one party contracts with another to plant trees on their land, the contractor works the land until it bears fruit, and a specified share of the yield is allocated to the contractor. This ruling is analogous to agreements regarding young trees. Ahmad, according to a narration by Al-Marwazi, permitted such an arrangement where a man instructed another to plant trees or palms on his land, stipulating that a certain share of the harvest belongs to the worker based on the effort expended. This permission is evidenced by the Hadith of Khaybar concerning crops and palms, but it is conditional upon the planting material (the saplings) belonging to the landowner, similar to the condition in *Muzara'ah* (sharecropping) that the seed must belong to the landowner.
Supporting text
If the planting material belongs to the contractor, the validity of the contract depends on differing scholarly opinions regarding sharecropping when the seed belongs to the laborer. Al-Qadi ruled the transaction void. In this case, the landowner has the choice: either obligate the contractor to remove the trees and compensate him for any resulting reduction in land value, or allow the trees to remain and pay the contractor their value, similar to a buyer who plants on purchased land later claimed by a preemptor (*Shafi'i*). If the contractor chooses to uproot his trees, he is permitted to do so, whether or not the land owner offers compensation, as the trees are his property. If both parties agree to keep the trees and the contractor pays rent for the land, the arrangement becomes valid.