Musaqat (irrigation sharing)

The ruling of musaqat

Musaqat: tending and watering trees against a share of the fruit. Valid for the majority: Malikis, Shafi'is, Hanbalis and Abu Yusuf with Muhammad (the Hanafi fatwa), by the Sunnah, the Companions' consensus and necessity. Ibn Abbas reports the Khaybar agreement: the inhabitants offered half the fruit for the upkeep; the Prophet sent Abdullah ibn Rawaha to estimate the palms; the growers cried overvaluation, and Ibn Rawaha answered: "I leave the estimate to your choice and give you half of what I said"; they accepted: "this is the right by which heaven and earth stand" (reported by Abu Dawud 3410, Ibn Majah 1820, judged hasan sahih). Muhammad ibn Ali reports that the Prophet, then Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman and Ali contracted with Khaybar for half, later generations for a third or a quarter (reported by Ibn Abi Shayba).

On which trees

• Hanafis: palms, trees, vines, fresh dates, eggplant roots and legumes.
• Malikis: every tree, even rainfed (upkeep stands in for water), except plants that renew themselves; watering arid land joins it only by need.
• Shafi'is: palms and vines; other fruit trees: two views, the later one prohibiting; trees without fruit: no.
• Hanbalis: every tree bearing edible fruit; not the willow or the walnut without sought fruit; the mulberry and the rose count by their foliage (Ibn Qudamah).

Binding force and duties

The contract binds for the majority (Hanafis, dominant Maliki view, Shafi'is, one Hanbali view), like ijara, save for an excuse; one Maliki view binds only from the start of work, one Hanbali view makes it revocable by the worker alone. The worker owes all the orchard customarily needs: irrigation, canal upkeep, guarding, pollination, pruning, removing harmful growth (Hanafis, Malikis); what benefits the tree without the fruit (walls, wells, new canals) cannot be imposed on him (al-Mawardi), save by stipulation in one view. Everything that increases the fruit may be stipulated on him (ash-Shafi'i); combining a trial period with a fruit share remains possible (Ibn al-Qattan). The irrigator's right arises when the fruit appears: if all perishes but one fruit, it is shared between them (Malikis, the Shafi'i madhhab, the Hanbali madhhab).

Practical note

Musaqat gives the way of agricultural sharing: a defined care against a fraction of the fruit, bounded by the custom of orcharding, with no hidden rent or wage.