35b/45: Chapter
Sunan an-Nasai 3887 — Sharecropping and Forbidden Sales
Mentioning The Differing Hadiths Regarding The Prohibition Of Leasing Out Land In Return For One Third, Or One Quarter Of The Harvest And The Different Wordings Reported By The Narrators
Sharecropping in Islam and the Hadith on Al-Muhaqalah
Sunan an-Nasai : 3887
Sunan an-NasaiHadith Number 3887
أَخْبَرَنَا عَمْرُو بْنُ عَلِيٍّ، قَالَ حَدَّثَنَا أَبُو عَاصِمٍ، قَالَ حَدَّثَنَا عُثْمَانُ بْنُ مُرَّةَ، قَالَ سَأَلْتُ الْقَاسِمَ عَنِ الْمُزَارَعَةِ، فَحَدَّثَ عَنْ رَافِعِ بْنِ خَدِيجٍ، أَنَّ رَسُولَ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم نَهَى عَنِ الْمُحَاقَلَةِ وَالْمُزَابَنَةِ. قَالَ أَبُو عَبْدِ الرَّحْمَنِ مَرَّةً أُخْرَى.
'Uthman bin Murrah Narrated from:
I asked Al-Qasim about Al-Muzara'ah, so he narrated from Rafi' bin Khadij that the Messenger of Allah forbade Al-Muhaqalah and Al-Muzabanah.
[1] That is, on another occasion the same Shaikh narrated the same chain of narration to him, but with the wordings that follow.Reference : Sunan an-Nasa'i 3887In-book reference : Book 35b, Hadith 31English translation : Vol. 4, Book 35, Hadith 3918
Summary of Sunan an-Nasai Hadith 3887
In this narration, 'Uthman bin Murrah asks Al-Qasim about Al-Muzara'ah, or sharecropping. Al-Qasim answers by reporting from Rafi' bin Khadij that the Messenger of Allah forbade Al-Muhaqalah and Al-Muzabanah. The hadith connects a question about cultivating land through an agreement with two prohibited agricultural practices. It does not say that every possible form of sharecropping has the same ruling, and it does not define all contract types. The safe lesson is narrower: when discussing Al-Muzara'ah, one must take care not to enter the forms named as Al-Muhaqalah or Al-Muzabanah. For users searching for sharecropping in Islam, this text shows the need to distinguish one arrangement from another instead of treating every farming agreement as identical.
What we learn from this hadith
- Questions about sharecropping should be answered with attention to the exact contract.
- Al-Muhaqalah was forbidden by the Messenger of Allah.
- Al-Muzabanah was also forbidden.
- Different agricultural agreements should not be treated as if they are all the same.
