Conditioning a specific amount on the worker in a profit-sharing partnership
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner:
Honorable Shaykh, may Allah grant you success, if the partner in a profit-sharing partnership conditions a specific amount on the worker, for example five thousand every month, is that permissible?
The Shaykh:
This is not permissible and it invalidates the partnership. If a specific amount is conditioned on the worker, the partnership is invalid. Or if he conditions on him the profit of this particular trip. And this is a trial for the intellect. The capital and the profit return to its owner, the owner of the capital, and the worker is given the wage of the equivalent if the partnership is invalid. If the partnership and the profit-sharing are invalid, then the profit belongs to the owner of the capital, and the partner in the profit-sharing is given the wage of the equivalent. Yes.
The questioner:
And if this is not permissible, some people say that usually the worker obtains the profit amount that the partner in the profit-sharing conditioned on him. Is this reasoning correct?
The Shaykh:
It is not correct. Even if the custom, the custom is not relied upon. The custom may change, the custom may change, and he may not obtain the amount. He does not obtain the profit, and you approximate it with a specific amount, and he did not obtain anything. This is injustice and encroachment. Justice is to say that the profit is between the owner of the capital and the partner in the profit-sharing according to what they conditioned. And if they did not condition, then it is by mutual consultation, so they are both subject to increase and decrease. And if no profit is found, neither of them obtains anything, so they are equal in not obtaining anything and in obtaining what is facilitated. This is the usual case. That you burden the partner in the profit-sharing with a specific amount that is necessary, this is invalid, and it invalidates the contract, and the profit belongs to the owner of the capital because it is the growth of his property, and the worker gets the wage of the equivalent.
Honorable Shaykh, may Allah grant you success, if the partner in a profit-sharing partnership conditions a specific amount on the worker, for example five thousand every month, is that permissible?
The Shaykh:
This is not permissible and it invalidates the partnership. If a specific amount is conditioned on the worker, the partnership is invalid. Or if he conditions on him the profit of this particular trip. And this is a trial for the intellect. The capital and the profit return to its owner, the owner of the capital, and the worker is given the wage of the equivalent if the partnership is invalid. If the partnership and the profit-sharing are invalid, then the profit belongs to the owner of the capital, and the partner in the profit-sharing is given the wage of the equivalent. Yes.
The questioner:
And if this is not permissible, some people say that usually the worker obtains the profit amount that the partner in the profit-sharing conditioned on him. Is this reasoning correct?
The Shaykh:
It is not correct. Even if the custom, the custom is not relied upon. The custom may change, the custom may change, and he may not obtain the amount. He does not obtain the profit, and you approximate it with a specific amount, and he did not obtain anything. This is injustice and encroachment. Justice is to say that the profit is between the owner of the capital and the partner in the profit-sharing according to what they conditioned. And if they did not condition, then it is by mutual consultation, so they are both subject to increase and decrease. And if no profit is found, neither of them obtains anything, so they are equal in not obtaining anything and in obtaining what is facilitated. This is the usual case. That you burden the partner in the profit-sharing with a specific amount that is necessary, this is invalid, and it invalidates the contract, and the profit belongs to the owner of the capital because it is the growth of his property, and the worker gets the wage of the equivalent.
Source
شرح بلوغ المرام من أدلة الأحكام [ صالح الفوزان ]، باب الشفعة — islamhouse.com (54:28)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.