The condition of returning the capital in a profit-sharing partnership
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner:
He says: Honorable Shaykh, may Allah preserve you, I gave a man money to trade with.
The Shaykh:
To proceed. Yes.
The questioner:
I gave a man money to trade with, and the profit is to be split in half. Is it permissible for me to condition that the capital be returned after a certain time? Or is it permissible for him to condition that if he lends my money, I not demand it back from him?
The Shaykh:
No, it is not permissible for him to say, if he lends your money, you do not demand it. The condition contradicts the essence of the partnership. It is not permissible. Yes.
As for setting a time limit, if you say, trade with my money for a period of one year or two years, there is no harm. Setting a time limit is fine. However, if you condition on him, or he conditions on you, that the capital not be guaranteed from the profit, meaning that it not be secured from the profit, this is not permissible, because the profit is not valid until after the settlement with you. As for him guaranteeing it from his own money, no, he does not guarantee it from his own money; he guarantees the capital from the profit.
He says: Honorable Shaykh, may Allah preserve you, I gave a man money to trade with.
The Shaykh:
To proceed. Yes.
The questioner:
I gave a man money to trade with, and the profit is to be split in half. Is it permissible for me to condition that the capital be returned after a certain time? Or is it permissible for him to condition that if he lends my money, I not demand it back from him?
The Shaykh:
No, it is not permissible for him to say, if he lends your money, you do not demand it. The condition contradicts the essence of the partnership. It is not permissible. Yes.
As for setting a time limit, if you say, trade with my money for a period of one year or two years, there is no harm. Setting a time limit is fine. However, if you condition on him, or he conditions on you, that the capital not be guaranteed from the profit, meaning that it not be secured from the profit, this is not permissible, because the profit is not valid until after the settlement with you. As for him guaranteeing it from his own money, no, he does not guarantee it from his own money; he guarantees the capital from the profit.
Source
قناة «العلامة الدكتور صالح الفوزان»، 141/87 شرح زاد المستقنع/ صالح الفوزان — youtube.com (52:33)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.