What is the ruling on leasing land to extract stones from its depths, given that one does not know whether clean stones will be found or not?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The Shaykh: Yes.
The questioner : Peace be upon you and Allah's mercy.
The Shaykh : And upon you be peace, and the mercy of Allah and His blessings.
The questioner : How is the Shaykh doing?
The Shaykh : Welcome.
The questioner : Your young son, Yusuf al-Ghuwayri.
The Shaykh : As we have told you repeatedly: the one who is defined does not know.
The questioner : May Allah reward you with good, my master.
The Shaykh : Welcome.
The questioner : How are you?
The Shaykh : May Allah preserve you.
The questioner : Shaykh, the matter that the people of Bal'ama are dealing with!
The Shaykh : Yes.
The questioner : A village north of Zarqa!
The Shaykh : Yes.
The questioner : He leases a piece of land to a buyer!
The Shaykh : Yes.
The questioner : For a sum of money for a period of one year.
The Shaykh : Yes.
The questioner : So what does the lessee do with the land? He does not plant it and harvest it, and so on!
The Shaykh: No?
The questioner : He extracts its stones. Sometimes the lessee finds clean stones, meaning he might lease, for example, a dunam for two hundred dinars, and extract from it ten thousand dinars.
The Shaykh: Yes.
The questioner : And sometimes for a hundred dinars, and sometimes he finds nothing.
The Shaykh: Yes.
The questioner : From this lease.
The Shaykh : Yes.
The questioner : So what is the ruling on this lease?
The Shaykh : Was the agreement on the detail that you mentioned?
The questioner : Yes, the detail is that I have leased you the piece of land, and you take the surface of the land and search for stones. If you find them, you find them; if you do not find them, nothing is upon you.
The Shaykh : Yes, this lease is permissible. What is the difference between a person who leases agricultural land to plant it!
The questioner : Ah.
The Shaykh : And then does not find a harvest for it at the end of the season!
The questioner: Yes.
The Shaykh : Or, on the contrary, he harvests thousands upon thousands, as Allah wills.
The questioner : Yes, the issue that arose for me!
The Shaykh: Yes.
The questioner : Is that, meaning, he bought stones in the belly of the earth, meaning it is as if he bought them.
The Shaykh : No, no, he did not buy stones. This is not the correct expression.
The questioner : Ah.
The Shaykh : He leased the land on the basis that he would dig it, and that he would find in it stones that have value or do not have value. This is a hidden matter that is not known. Therefore, I gave you an example in agriculture.
The questioner: Yes.
The Shaykh : And agriculture, in terms of the usual custom, mostly succeeds.
The questioner: Yes.
The Shaykh : But even so, one may lose.
The questioner : You are correct.
The Shaykh : That is it. Therefore, if the lease contains this clarification that you clarified for me.
The questioner: Yes.
The Shaykh : Then there is nothing wrong with it.
The questioner : May Allah reward you with good.
The Shaykh : And may Allah protect you, if Allah wills.
The questioner : Peace be upon you and Allah's mercy.
The Shaykh : And upon you be peace, and the mercy of Allah and His blessings.
The questioner : Peace be upon you and Allah's mercy.
The Shaykh : And upon you be peace, and the mercy of Allah and His blessings.
The questioner : How is the Shaykh doing?
The Shaykh : Welcome.
The questioner : Your young son, Yusuf al-Ghuwayri.
The Shaykh : As we have told you repeatedly: the one who is defined does not know.
The questioner : May Allah reward you with good, my master.
The Shaykh : Welcome.
The questioner : How are you?
The Shaykh : May Allah preserve you.
The questioner : Shaykh, the matter that the people of Bal'ama are dealing with!
The Shaykh : Yes.
The questioner : A village north of Zarqa!
The Shaykh : Yes.
The questioner : He leases a piece of land to a buyer!
The Shaykh : Yes.
The questioner : For a sum of money for a period of one year.
The Shaykh : Yes.
The questioner : So what does the lessee do with the land? He does not plant it and harvest it, and so on!
The Shaykh: No?
The questioner : He extracts its stones. Sometimes the lessee finds clean stones, meaning he might lease, for example, a dunam for two hundred dinars, and extract from it ten thousand dinars.
The Shaykh: Yes.
The questioner : And sometimes for a hundred dinars, and sometimes he finds nothing.
The Shaykh: Yes.
The questioner : From this lease.
The Shaykh : Yes.
The questioner : So what is the ruling on this lease?
The Shaykh : Was the agreement on the detail that you mentioned?
The questioner : Yes, the detail is that I have leased you the piece of land, and you take the surface of the land and search for stones. If you find them, you find them; if you do not find them, nothing is upon you.
The Shaykh : Yes, this lease is permissible. What is the difference between a person who leases agricultural land to plant it!
The questioner : Ah.
The Shaykh : And then does not find a harvest for it at the end of the season!
The questioner: Yes.
The Shaykh : Or, on the contrary, he harvests thousands upon thousands, as Allah wills.
The questioner : Yes, the issue that arose for me!
The Shaykh: Yes.
The questioner : Is that, meaning, he bought stones in the belly of the earth, meaning it is as if he bought them.
The Shaykh : No, no, he did not buy stones. This is not the correct expression.
The questioner : Ah.
The Shaykh : He leased the land on the basis that he would dig it, and that he would find in it stones that have value or do not have value. This is a hidden matter that is not known. Therefore, I gave you an example in agriculture.
The questioner: Yes.
The Shaykh : And agriculture, in terms of the usual custom, mostly succeeds.
The questioner: Yes.
The Shaykh : But even so, one may lose.
The questioner : You are correct.
The Shaykh : That is it. Therefore, if the lease contains this clarification that you clarified for me.
The questioner: Yes.
The Shaykh : Then there is nothing wrong with it.
The questioner : May Allah reward you with good.
The Shaykh : And may Allah protect you, if Allah wills.
The questioner : Peace be upon you and Allah's mercy.
The Shaykh : And upon you be peace, and the mercy of Allah and His blessings.
Source
www.al-albany.com
The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.