Is Mudaraba (sharecropping) permissible?
Chapter on Sharecropping (Muzara'ah)
Al-Mughni
Book of Sharecropping (Musāqāh)
Primary text
Muzara'ah (sharecropping), which involves giving land to someone to cultivate with the resulting crop divided between them, is permissible according to a large number of scholars. This view is supported by Imam al-Bukhari, who stated that no household in Medina was without engaging in it for a third or a quarter share. Companions such as Ali, Sa'd, Ibn Mas'ud, and Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz, along with major Successors like Sa'id ibn al-Musayyib and Zuhri, held this view. The practice was established by the Prophet, peace be upon him, concerning the people of Khaybar, where he dealt with them by giving them half of what was produced from their crops or fruits. This practice continued under Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman, and Ali, and their successors, until the present day, with arrangements often being a third or a quarter share. This action by the Prophet and the continuous practice by the Rightly Guided Caliphs and the households of the Prophet, without any reported contradiction from the Companions, indicates its validity.
Supporting text
Some scholars, including 'Ikrimah, Mujahid, al-Nakha'i, and Abu Hanifah, disliked Muzara'ah.