We used to employ people to till land for a share of its produce* and see no harm in it till Rafi' b. Khadij asserted that the Prophet forbade it, so we abandoned it on that account.
Muslim transmitted it.
* Mukhabir. From this comes the verbal noun mukhabara. See p. 607.
‘ Abdallah b. Umar said that God’s Messenger handed over to the Jews of Khaibar the palm-trees and the land of Khaibar on condition that they should employ what belonged to them in working on them and that he should have half the produce.
Muslim transmitted it.
In Bukhari's version, it says that God’s Messenger gave Khaibar to the Jews to work and cultivate, in return for which they would get half of what it produced.
Hanzala b. Qais quoted Rafi‘ b. Khadij to the effect that his two paternal uncles told him they used to let out land in the time of the Prophet for what grew by the streamlets, or for something the owner of the land set aside, but the Prophet forbade them to do that. He asked Rafi’ how the matter would stand if payment were made in dirhams and dinars and he replied that there would be no harm in that. It seemed that what was prohibited was such as people versed in what is allowed and what is prohibited would not permit if they looked into it, because of the risk involved*.
* The objection to such an agreement is that one cannot guarantee beforehand what a particular piece of land will produce.
‘Uthman b. ‘Affan said that when boundaries have been set up in land there is no option to buy neighbouring property, and that the option does not apply to a well or to male palm-trees.
