Chapter

Agriculture

كتاب المزارعة

Arabic Text

حَدَّثَنَا مُحَمَّدٌ، أَخْبَرَنَا عَبْدُ اللَّهِ، أَخْبَرَنَا يَحْيَى بْنُ سَعِيدٍ، عَنْ حَنْظَلَةَ بْنِ قَيْسٍ الأَنْصَارِيِّ، سَمِعَ رَافِعَ بْنَ خَدِيجٍ، قَالَ كُنَّا أَكْثَرَ أَهْلِ الْمَدِينَةِ مُزْدَرَعًا، كُنَّا نُكْرِي الأَرْضَ بِالنَّاحِيَةِ مِنْهَا مُسَمًّى لِسَيِّدِ الأَرْضِ، قَالَ فَمِمَّا يُصَابُ ذَلِكَ وَتَسْلَمُ الأَرْضُ، وَمِمَّا يُصَابُ الأَرْضُ وَيَسْلَمُ ذَلِكَ، فَنُهِينَا، وَأَمَّا الذَّهَبُ وَالْوَرِقُ فَلَمْ يَكُنْ يَوْمَئِذٍ‏.‏

English Translation

Narrated Rafi` bin Khadij:

We worked on farms more than anybody else in Medina. We used to rent the land at the yield of specific delimited portion of it to be given to the landlord. Sometimes the vegetation of that portion was affected by blights etc., while the rest remained safe and vice versa, so the Prophet (ﷺ) forbade this practice. At that time gold or silver were not used (for renting the land). If they provided the seeds, they would get so-and-so much.