3391 — ʿUthmān ibn Abī Shaybah narrated to us, Yazīd ibn Hārūn narrated to us, Ibrāhīm ibn Saʿd informed us, from Muḥammad ibn ʿIkrimah ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn al-Ḥārith ibn Hishām, from Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Abī Labībah, from Saʿīd ibn al-Musayyib, from Saʿd, who said: We used to rent out land in return for what grew along the irrigation channels and what was watered by it, but the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) forbade us from that and commanded us to rent it out for gold or silver.

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ʿAbd Allāh asked him about the ḥadīths of Rāfiʿ ibn Khadīj — sometimes he would say: "The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) forbade us," and sometimes he would say: "from his two uncles" — and he said: "All of them are sound, and the most beloved to me is the ḥadīth of Ayyūb."

Al-Khaṭṭābī said: Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal permitted sharecropping (muzāraʿah), adducing as evidence that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) gave the land of Khaybar to the Jews as sharecroppers and its palm trees as sharecroppers in date palms (musāqāh). Ibn Abī Laylā, Yaʿqūb, and Muḥammad also permitted it, and it is the view of Ibn al-Musayyib, Ibn Sīrīn, al-Zuhrī, and ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz. Abū Ḥanīfah, Mālik, and al-Shāfiʿī declared it invalid.

The Shaykh [meaning al-Khaṭṭābī] said: These scholars only adhered to the apparent wording of the ḥadīth as transmitted by Rāfiʿ ibn Khadīj, and they did not come to know its defect (ʿillah) as Aḥmad did. Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq ibn Khuzaymah has thoroughly clarified this matter, permitted it, and composed a treatise on sharecropping in which he mentioned the defects of the ḥadīths reported concerning it. Thus, sharecropping for a half, a third, a fourth, or whatever the two partners agree upon is permissible, provided that the shares are known and corrupt conditions are absent. It is the practice of the Muslims in the lands of Islam and the regions of the earth, east and west. I know that I have not seen or heard of any people of a country or region of the lands inhabited by Muslims who declare the practice invalid.

Then Abū Dāwūd, following these ḥadīths, mentioned a chapter on the severity of the prohibition of sharecropping, and in it he cited multiple chains for the ḥadīth of Rāfiʿ ibn Khadīj with different wordings, which we disliked mentioning lest the book become lengthy. The proper course regarding all of them is that the general (mujmal) therein should be referred back to the detailed (mufassar) among the ḥadīths already mentioned, and we have already explained their defects.

(1) Ḥasan li-ghayrihi (good due to corroboration), but this chain is weak due to the weakness of Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Labībah and the unknown status of Muḥammad ibn ʿIkrimah ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān.
It was also recorded by al-Nasāʾī (3894) via the chain of Ibrāhīm ibn Saʿd, with this isnād.
It is found in the Musnad of Aḥmad (1542) and Ṣaḥīḥ Ibn Ḥibbān (5201).