Nasai

(1) Rafi‘ bin Asid has narrated the incident as pertaining to Usayd bin Zuhayr, whereas Mujahid has narrated it from Rafi‘ bin Khadij through Usayd bin Zuhayr, meaning he has attributed the incident to Rafi‘ bin Khadij.

(2) This narration is weak in its chain of transmission; however, in light of other narrations, the clarification of the issue is as follows: The owner may give his land on sharecropping (muzara‘ah) or lease (ijarah) as he wishes. The principles of Shari‘ah support this, but there are certain conditions: that there should be no oppression upon the sharecropper, and no corruption should arise in society. At the time of the arrival of the Prophet (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam), the people of Madinah used to engage in sharecropping under oppressive conditions, for example: the produce of the good land would be kept for themselves, and the produce of the inferior land would be for the sharecropper; or they would take a fixed amount of crop (such as a specified quantity of wheat or barley), regardless of whether anything remained or not. Clearly, this method of sharecropping is oppression; therefore, the Prophet (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) forbade such sharecropping. Or, he forbade the large landowners who possessed surplus lands to the extent that they could not cultivate them themselves. He encouraged them to give their surplus lands to their poor Muslim brothers for one or two years, so that they could benefit from the produce and support themselves. As for you, your livelihood is already well provided for. In other words, this was a temporary restriction, which the government has the authority to impose, and it was not for everyone, but only for the large landowners. Especially since, in that era, there were many poor emigrants (muhajirun) in Madinah. Even now, if the government deems it necessary, it can impose restrictions on large landowners, that they should keep only as much land as they can themselves cultivate properly, and the remaining land should be distributed among poor sharecroppers, or the government itself may do this—especially when these estates have been acquired through flattery and unlawful support of the ruling authority. If a government can grant an estate to someone, then a subsequent government can, in the public interest, abolish or limit those estates. There are such examples from ‘Umar ibn al-Khattab (radi Allahu anhu), who was, in the true sense, a mujtahid caliph. And where such harms do not exist, it is permissible to give land on sharecropping or lease. The region of Khaybar, which came under your (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) control, was given to the Jews on sharecropping. The landowning Companions and Followers (tabi‘in) used to give their lands on sharecropping, etc.; therefore, this practice is correct. In any case, the prohibition by the Prophet (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) was due to the landowners imposing oppressive conditions, or as an administrative temporary order, or for public welfare, or in consideration of the brotherhood with the poor. This is an extremely appropriate reconciliation, by which it is possible to act upon all the narrations. And Allah knows best.