The Creed of Compassion-Islamic Teachings & Answering Doctrinal Misconceptions

Issue No.1890- If the period of Sharecropping (tenancy) comes ends, and the crop has not yet become available, in case this is due to the failure of the farmer, the landowner can make the farmer remove the crop from there. However, if it is due to the year being delayed (as is common), the landowner should wait, and if it is neither of them, and the farmer sustains a loss owing to its being removed, but the landowner does not sustain a loss, the latter should wait. However, if he (the landowner) sustains a loss, he has the right to make the farmer remove the crop.

Issue No.1891- If farming becomes impossible on the land on account of some occurrence, for example, if subterranean canals are destroyed and water supply is cut off from the land, in case a part of the crop has been obtained, though it might be fodder which animals eat, it belongs to both of them according to the contract, and Sharecropping is void in respect to the rest.

Issue No.1892- If the farmer does not cultivate the land while the land remains in his possession, he should pay the rent for that period to the owner at the usual rate, and if a defect has appeared in the land, he is also responsible for it.

Issue No.1894- If the owner of the land or the farmer dies after concluding the contract of Sharecropping, the contract will not be terminated and their heirs take their place. However, if the farmer dies and if they had agreed that the farmer himself would do the farming, the contract of Sharecropping will become cancelled, and in case the crop has appeared, his share should be given to his heirs, but the heirs cannot compel the landowner to allow the crop to stand on his land unless they would suffer loss as a consequence of removing it.

Issue No.1895- If it transpires, after cultivation and before the harvest, that the contract of Sharecropping had been void and if the seeds belonged to the landowner, the produce would belong to him, and he should pay the wages of the farmer at the usual rate. In case however, the seeds belonged to the farmer, the produce would belong to him, and he should pay the landowner the rent of the land as usual. If the landowner does not agree that the crop remain on his land until the end of the period, the farmer should collect the crop provided that this would not cause harm and loss to him, and that the remaining on the land and paying the rent should not cause harm and loss to the landowner.

Issue No.1896- In case, after the expiry of the contract, the remaining roots grow again in the following year and yield crop, and if the landowner and the farmer have not dispensed with it, the crop of the second year should be divided between them according to the first year.

Issue No.1897- If a person hands over his fruit trees to someone for a specified period of time, so that he cares, tends and waters them, and in return, that person may receive a quantity of fruits, this transaction is called musāqāt.

Issue No.1898- Musāqāt is also valid in respect of trees like rose trees, which are used for extracting rose water, etc. from their flowers, or Henna or cedar trees whose leaves are used, or some other trees whose sap and gum are used. However, a musāqāt transaction in respect of trees, which have none of these uses, is not in order.

Issue No.1899- To conclude the transaction of musāqāt, the prescribed formula can be recited, and it will also be valid without reciting the formula. For example, if the owner of the trees transfers them with the intention of musāqāt and the person who has agreed to take care of them receives them with the same intention, the transaction will be in order. (Of course, the necessary talks about the duration and the conditions, etc. should have taken place earlier).

Issue No.1900- There are some conditions for musāqāt:1) The owner of the trees and the person who undertakes to look after them, should be mature and sane.2) No one should have compelled them into the transaction.3) They should not have been banned from having discretion over their own property.4) The period of musāqāt should be specified, and if the beginning of it is specified, and its end is fixed to be the time when fruits for that year become available, the contract is in order.5) It is necessary that the share of each one of them is fixed as half or one third, etc., of the crop, and if they stipulate, for example, that one ton of the fruits will belong to the owner of the orchard and the remaining quantity will go to the person who looks after the trees, the contract is void.6) It is necessary that the contract of musāqāt be concluded before the appearance of the crop. And if the contract is made after the appearance of the fruits but before they are ripe, the contract will be in order, provided that some work such as watering and spraying which are required for the growth and development of the fruits still remain to be done, otherwise, the contract is not valid as an obligatory precaution. In case however, the work required to be done is merely plucking the fruits and looking after them, the contract is in order but it is not considered to be musāqāt.

Issue No.1901- If a clear agreement is made in respect of melon plants, cucumber plants, etc., in which the number of the times of picking and the share of each one are specified, it will be in order, though it cannot be called musāqāt.

Issue No.1902- If a tree benefits from rainwater or the moisture of earth and does not stand in need of irrigation but needs other work like turning up with a spade, fertilising and spraying which will make its fruit or its quality to improve, the contract of musāqāt with regard to it is in order.