Hiring workers to extract precious stones
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The first question of Fatwa No. ( 17471 )
Q1: The workers in the field of buying and selling precious stones (diamonds) here in Central Africa have a type of transaction, which is as follows: A person provides the workers with tools for digging, searching, and mining for diamonds, and pays for their living expenses for the duration of their search for diamonds. Then, if Allah wills that the workers obtain diamonds during that period of searching and digging, the person who took charge of spending on them and giving them the digging tools buys the diamonds from them. The workers are not allowed to sell the diamonds to anyone else. The buyer deducts what he spent on them from the value of the diamonds. All of this is done with the knowledge and consent of both parties, the financier and the workers. If they do not find anything in their search and excavations, the financier loses what he spent on them, and the workers lose their efforts and energy in the search. My question now is: What is the Islamic ruling on this type of transaction?
A1: This contract is not valid because it contains a loan that yields benefit,
and a sale with an unknown price. The only lawful way is for him to hire the workers at his own expense; whatever diamonds they find belong to him, and he does not claim anything from them. If they find nothing, he has no claim against them, because they have earned the wage through their work.
Q1: The workers in the field of buying and selling precious stones (diamonds) here in Central Africa have a type of transaction, which is as follows: A person provides the workers with tools for digging, searching, and mining for diamonds, and pays for their living expenses for the duration of their search for diamonds. Then, if Allah wills that the workers obtain diamonds during that period of searching and digging, the person who took charge of spending on them and giving them the digging tools buys the diamonds from them. The workers are not allowed to sell the diamonds to anyone else. The buyer deducts what he spent on them from the value of the diamonds. All of this is done with the knowledge and consent of both parties, the financier and the workers. If they do not find anything in their search and excavations, the financier loses what he spent on them, and the workers lose their efforts and energy in the search. My question now is: What is the Islamic ruling on this type of transaction?
A1: This contract is not valid because it contains a loan that yields benefit,
and a sale with an unknown price. The only lawful way is for him to hire the workers at his own expense; whatever diamonds they find belong to him, and he does not claim anything from them. If they find nothing, he has no claim against them, because they have earned the wage through their work.
Source
www.alifta.gov.sa
The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.