What tasks fall upon the cultivator (al-'amil) in an unrestricted sharecropping contract (Musaqah)?

General Chapter

Al-Mughni

Book of Sharecropping (Musāqāh)

Book 24 · Issue 1 · Bab 1

Open in Qurani

Primary text

The cultivator is obligated to perform all tasks necessary for the preservation and increase of the fruit. This includes cultivating the land beneath the trees, managing the oxen used for plowing, maintaining the plowing implements, watering the trees, drawing water (istqaa'), repairing and cleaning water channels, cutting harmful weeds and thorns, cutting dead wood, pruning the vine (zubar al-karm), cutting what requires cutting, leveling the fruit, repairing the drainage pits (ajajin) where water collects around the palm bases, operating the water wheel (dawalab), and guarding the fruit both while on the tree and after harvest until division. If the fruit requires drying (tashmees), the cultivator must perform the drying.