Giving land on hire

Question

Question: Zayd, for his own need, pledged (rahn) a plot of his field of four bighas (a local unit of land area) to ʿUmar for four years for four hundred rupees, and said to ʿUmar: “After four years give me back my field. Whatever benefit you derive from my field for four years and whatever produce you eat, I will have no concern or interest in it. And when I take my field from you, I will not give you a single paisa (a small copper coin, a fraction of a rupee)

Answer

This is not a pledge but a lease (ijara), i.e. Zayd has given his land on hire to ʿUmar for four years, so that he may cultivate in it whatever he wishes, and has received its rent of four hundred rupees in advance.

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

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