Sunan Abi Dawud

The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) forbade the transaction called habal al-habalah.

Habal al-habalah means that a she-camel delivers an offspring and then the offspring which it delivers becomes pregnant.

A time is certainly coming to mankind when people will bite each other and a rich man will hold fast, what he has in his possession (i.e. his property), though he was not commanded for that. Allah, Most High, said: "And do not forget liberality between yourselves." The men who are forced will contract sale while the Prophet (ﷺ) forbade forced contract, one which involves some uncertainty, and the sale of fruit before it is ripe.

The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) having said: Allah, Most High, says: "I make a third with two partners as long as one of them does not cheat the other, but when he cheats him, I depart from them."

The Prophet (ﷺ) gave him a dinar to buy a sacrificial animal or a sheep. He bought two sheep, sold one of them for a dinar, and brought him a sheep and dinar. So he invoked a blessing on him in his business dealing, and he was such that if had he bought dust he would have made a profit from it.

The tradition mentioned above has also been transmitted by 'Urwat al-Bariqi through a different chain of narrators. The wordings of this version are different from those of the previous one.

The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) sent with him a dinar to buy a sacrificial animal for him. He bought a sheep for a dinar, sold it for two and then returned and bought a sacrificial animal for a dinar for him and brought the (extra) dinar to the Prophet (ﷺ). The Prophet (ﷺ) gave it as alms (sadaqah) and invoked blessing on him in his trading.

I heard the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) say: If any of you can become like the man who had a faraq of rice, he should become like him. They (the people) asked: Who is the man who had a faraq of rice with him, Messenger of Allah ? Thereupon he narrated the story of the cave when a hillock fell on them (three persons), each of them said: Mention any best work of yours. The narrator said: The third of them said: O Allah, you know that I took a hireling for a faraq of rice. When the evening came, I presented to him his due (i.e. his wages). But he refused to take it and went away. I then cultivated it until I amassed cows and their herdsmen for him. He then met me and said: Give me my dues. I said (to him): Go to those cows and their herdsmen and take them all. He went and drove them away.

I Ammar, and Sa'd became partners in what we would receive on the day of Badr. Sa'd then brought two prisoners, but I and Ammar did not bring anything.

I heard Ibn Umar say: We did not see any harm in sharecropping till I heard Rafi' ibn Khadij say: The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) has forbidden it. So I mentioned it to Tawus. He said: Ibn Abbas told me that the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) had not forbidden it, but said: It is better for one of you to lend to his brother than to take a prescribed sum from him.

That Zayd ibn Thabit said: May Allah forgive Rafi' ibn Khadij. I swear by Allah, I have more knowledge of Hadith than him. Two persons of the Ansar (according to the version of Musaddad) came to him who were disputing with each other. The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: If this is your position, then do not lease the agricultural land. The version of Musaddad has: So he (Rafi' ibn Khadij) heard his statement: Do not lease agricultural lands.

We used to lease land for what grew by the streamlets and for what was watered from them. The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) forbade us to do that, and commanded us to lease if for gold or silver.

I asked Rafi' b. Khadij about the lease of land for gold and silver (i.e. for dinars and dirhams). There is no harm in it, for the people used to let out land in the time of the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) for what grew by the current of water and at the banks of streamlets and at the places of cultivation. So sometimes this (portion) perished and that (portion) was saved, and sometimes this remained intact and that perished. There was no (form of) lease among the people except this. Therefore, he forbade it. But if there is something which is secure and known, then there is no harm in it. The tradition of Ibrahim is more perfect. Qutaibah said: "from Hanzalah on the authority of Rafi' ". Abu Dawud said: A similar tradition has been transmitted by Yahya b. Sa'id from Hanzalah.

The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) forbade the leasing of land. I asked: (Did he forbid) for gold and silver (i.e. dinars and dirhams)? He replied: If it is against gold and silver, then there is no harm in it.

Ibn 'Umar used to let out his land till it reached him that Rafi' b. Khadij al-Ansari narrated that the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) forbade let out land. So 'Abd Allah (b. 'Umar) said: Ibn Khadij, what do you narrate from the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) about leasing the land? Rafi' replied to 'Abd Allah b. 'Umar: I heard both of my uncles were present in the battle of Badr say, and they narrated it to the members of the family, that the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) forbade leasing land. 'Abd Allah said: I swear by Allah, I knew that land was leased in the time of the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ). 'Abd Allah then feared that the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) might have created something new in that matter, so he gave up leasing land. Abu Dawud said: This tradition has also been transmitted by Ayyub, 'Ubaid Allah, Kathir b. Farqad, Malik from Nafi' on the authority of Rafi' from the Prophet (ﷺ). It has also been transmitted by al-Auzai' from Hafs b. 'Inan al-Hanafi from Nafi' from Rafi' who said: I heard the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) say: Similarly, it has been transmitted by Zaid b. Abi Unaisah from al-Hakkam from Nafi' from Ibn 'Umar that he went to Rafi' and asked: Have you heard the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) say? He replied: Yes. Similarly, it has also been transmitted by 'Ikrimah b. 'Ammar from Abu al-Najashi, from Rafi' b. Khadij who said: I heard the Prophet (ﷺ) say. It has also been transmitted by al-Auza'i from Abu al-Najashi from Rafi' b. Khadij from his uncle Zuhair b. Rafi' from the Prophet (ﷺ). Abu Dawud said: The name of Abu al-Najashi is 'Ata b. Suhaib.

We used to employ people to till land for a share of it produce. He then maintained that, one of his uncles came to him and said: The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) forbade us from a work which beneficial to us. But obedience to Allah and His Apostle (ﷺ) is more beneficial to us. We asked : What is that ? He said: The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: If anyone has land, he should cultivate it, or lend it to his brother for cultivation. He should not rent it for a third or a quarter (of the produce) or for specified among of produce.

Ya'la b. Hakim wrote to me: I heard Sulaiman b. Yasar narrating the tradition to the same effect as narrated by 'Ubaid Allah and through the same chain.

AbuRafi' came to us from the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) forbade us from a work which benefited us; but obedience to Allah and His Apostle (ﷺ) is more beneficial to us. He forbade that one of us cultivates land except the one which he owns or the land which a man lends him (to cultivate).

Rafi' b. Khadij came to us and said: The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) forbids you from a work which is beneficial to you ; and obedience to Allah and His Prophet (ﷺ) is more beneficial to you. The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) forbids you from renting land for share of its produce and he said: If anyone if not in need of his land he should lend it to his brother or leave it. Abu Dawud said: Shu'bah and Mufaddal b. Muhalhal have narrated it from Mansur in similar way. Shu'bah said (in his version): Usaid, nephew of Rafi' b, Khadij.

My uncle sent me and his slave to Sa'id ibn al-Musayyab. We said to him, there is something which has reached us about sharecropping. He replied: Ibn Umar did not see any harm in it until a tradition reached him from Rafi' ibn Khadij. He then came to him and Rafi' told him that the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) came to Banu Harithah and saw crop in the land of Zuhayr. He said: What an excellent crop of Zuhayr is! They said: It does not belong to Zuhayr. He asked: Is this not the land of Zuhayr? They said: Yes, but the crop belongs to so-and-so. He said: Take your crop and give him the wages. Rafi' said: We took our crop and gave him the wages. Sa'id (ibn al-Musayyab) said: Lend your brother or employ him for dirhams.