Nasai

(1) When a person gives some money to another and says, “Do business with this, and we will share the profit,” this is called *mudarabah*. The one who gives the money is the owner of the capital, and the one who takes it is called the *mudarib*, who conducts business with that money. If the *mudarib* comes and says, “Sir! All or some of the principal has been stolen or lost,” what will be the ruling? This issue is discussed in the aforementioned hadith. Qadi Shurayh, who was the Chief Judge (Qadi al-Qudat) during the era of the Rightly Guided Caliphs, would encounter such cases. He would assess whether the *mudarib* appeared suspicious or not. If he seemed suspicious, he would say: “Present evidence for your claim, otherwise your statement will not be accepted.” And if he appeared innocent, he would say to the owner of the capital: “Present evidence of his betrayal, otherwise his statement will be accepted.” In other words, sometimes he would consider him the claimant (*mudda‘i*) and sometimes the defendant (*mudda‘ā ‘alayh*), because from the perspective that he is claiming a loss, he can be considered the claimant, and from the perspective of ensuring that no party is wronged according to the demand of justice, either of the two can be made the claimant or defendant.

(2) The relevance of this hadith to the chapter of *muzara‘ah* (sharecropping) is that *muzara‘ah* is similar to *mudarabah* and is analogically based upon it. Therefore, if a dispute arises between the landowner and the sharecropper, the court can seek guidance from the method of judgment of Qadi Shurayh rahimahullah; that is, the sharecropper can be made the claimant or the defendant.