A muzara‘a or musaqat arrangement

Question

Question: Before the crop appeared, the crop was bought for five years for seventy thousand. Along with this, the owner was told: “We will plant a few trees in it, and you will have a share in that; the land and the water are yours, while the manure and the other expenses will all be ours.” An answer in the light of the Shari‘a is requested.

Answer

There is no fruit in the orchard and no crop in the land; so buying it for five years is buying something non-existent, and such a sale is not valid in the Shari‘a. However, it is permissible to make a lease (ijara) of the land — whether it is orchard land or empty land — for cultivation and for planting trees; and the arrangement of muzara‘a (sharecropping), i.e.

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

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