Wage for reaping the crop (lai)

Question

Question: Cultivators have this practice: at harvest time they have labourers reap the crop, telling them, “After it is threshed, your wage will be given from this very (crop).” How is this according to the Shari‘a?

Answer

It is impermissible. If, however, the condition is not made that your wage will be given from this very grain, but rather some quantity of grain is agreed upon, then it is permissible, even if afterwards the wage is given from this same grain: [ar]صورة قفيز الطحان أن يستأجر الرجل من آخر ثوراً ليطحن بها الحنطة على أن يكون لصاحبها قفيز من دقيقها، أو ليستأجر إنساناً ليطحن له…

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

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