Discover the meaning of the term Al-ijara (إجارة) in Islamic vocabulary.
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Updated on 11 April 2026 at 1:05 AM
📖 3 min readIt denotes the contract over usufructs (manafi') for a counter-value that is wealth; the transfer of usufructs for a counter-value is ijara, and without a counter-value it is i'ara (lending for use).
With kasra: a fa'ala-form from ajara; 'ajarahu' is among the verbs of hiring in the sense of wages (ujra), which is its name. It is the sale of usufructs in language, and in the Sharia: a contract over usufructs for a counter-value that is wealth, that is, the sale of a usufruct specified in genus and measure for a pecuniary counter-value, or a usufruct of a genus other than the object of the contract, as the dwelling of a house for the riding of a beast; it is not valid for the dwelling of another house. That counter-value must also be known in measure or description, whether a debt (dayn) or a body ('ayn). By 'dayn' is meant here such as the two currencies, the measured and the weighed; and by 'ayn', such as garments and slaves.
The transfer of the usufruct for a term for a pecuniary counter-value.
The contract over usufructs for a counter-value which is wealth; the transfer of the usufruct for a counter-value is ijara, and without it, i'ara.
It denotes the contract over usufructs for a counter-value that is wealth; the transfer of usufructs for a counter-value is ijara, and without a counter-value, i'ara.
A name for the wage (ujra); the word then became current for the contract. In technical usage: the transfer of the usufruct of a body ('ayn) for a counter-value (Ibn Hajar). Among the Malikis: the sale of usufructs; and: the sale of the usufruct of a rational being; al-kira' (lease of land): the sale of the usufruct of a non-rational being; and: the transfer of the usufructs of a lawful thing for a known term for a counter-value. Among the Hanafis: the contract over usufructs for a counter-value that is wealth; and: the transfer of an intended usufruct from a body ('ayn); and: like the first saying of the Malikis. Among the Shafi'is: the transfer of a usufruct for a counter-value with conditions; and: like the first saying of the Malikis. Among the Hanafis: like the first saying of the Malikis. Among the Zahiris: barter over usufructs that Allah, the Most High, has not yet created. Among the Ja'faris: the transfer of a known usufruct for a known counter-value. Among the Zaydis: the sale of known usufructs. Among the Ibadis: the exchange of what bears a deferred counter-value. In the Majalla (art. 405): in the jurists' terminology, the sale of the known usufruct in exchange for a known counter-value.