Who bears a penalty incurred in a muzara‘a

Question

Question: Zayd made a muzara‘a (sharecropping) arrangement for his cultivable land in this form: he gave the land to two persons on the condition that only the labour would be theirs, while the land, the oxen and the seed would be his, and the share of the two of them would be a quarter in the grain only, not in the straw. One of these two men was irrigating the land from a government canal.

Answer

This penalty falls on the one through whose act it was incurred; no other person will be liable for it. Whoever is a partner in the muzara‘a itself is not a partner in this penalty; rather, this penalty will be paid from the boy’s property. And if the boy’s father ordered him, and the situation arose because of that, then the penalty will be on the boy’s father.

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

Preview. The full text opens with JavaScript enabled.