Sunan an-Nasa’i 3865
The Book of Agriculture
Mentioning The Differing Hadiths Regarding The Prohibition Of Leasing Out Land In Return For One Third, Or One Quarter Of The Harvest And The Different Wordings Reported By The Narrators
It was narrated that Usaid bin Zuhair said: "Rafi' bin Khadij came to us and I was not sure what he meant. He said: 'The Messenger of Allah has forbidden to you something that used to benefit you, but obedience to the Messenger of Allah is better for you than that which benefits you. The Messenger of Allah has forbidden Al-Haql for you. Al-Haql means share-cropping the land in return for one-third or one-quarter (of the yield). So whoever has land that he does not need, let him give it to his brother (to cultivate it) or let him leave it. And he has forbidden to you Al-Muzabanah. Al-Muzabanah means when a man has a great number of datepalms and says: Take it in return for (a certain number of) Wasqs of dried dates this year.'"