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C: Reviews: Society and culture

Sharecropping is a system of leasing agricultural land in which rent is paid not as a fixed sum, but as a proportion of the harvest. The definition itself underlines the nature of the problem. When the contract is made, the crop is as yet unharvested, which is why sharecropping contracts fail to specify the date of payment and the exact value of the rent. Sharecropping can therefore be understood as involving gharar (risk) and the potential for ribā (unjustified profit). Both are forbidden in Islamic contract law. Why, then, is sharecropping widespread in Islamic countries? Taking the example of Yemen where sharecropping is the dominant form of land lease, Donaldson’s book analyses two major aspects: first, the restrictions that Islamic law (shari‘ah) places on sharecropping in order to make it legally acceptable; and second, the methods by which Yemeni farmers practise sharecropping today. In Part I of the book, which explores how Islamic legal theory regulates sharecropping, the Arabic terminology is discussed in great detail. The three major types of sharecropping contracts are muzāra‘ah (sharecropping in land sown annually, typically with grains), mughārasah (sharecropping in land planted with perennial crops, typically orchards and vineyards) and musāqāh (sharecropping in irrigated land, typically with perennial crops, especially date-palm gardens). But there are a number of variations on these three themes. The complete Arabic terminology related to sharecropping contracts is listed in Appendix 1. The basic problem that Islamic jurists have with sharecropping is traced back to its historical origins in the ambiguous nature of those Hadiths (the traditions relating the Sunna, or practice, of the Prophet Muhammad) which refer to sharecropping. The Sunnah, as the second of the primary sources of Islamic law, does not give a clear ruling on whether or not sharecropping is permissible for Muslims. This explains why from early times on sharecropping developed into a major legal issue. The Qur’an, the first primary source of law for all Muslims, does not mention sharecropping as such. To deal with the problem, the jurists of the different Islamic legal schools (madhhabs) have imposed conditions and restrictions upon sharecropping contracts in order to make the contracts valid. With regard to the Islamic legal schools, Yemen is subdivided into north-eastern or Upper Yemen, which predominantly follows the (Shi’ah) Zaydi School, and Lower Yemen covering the central, western and southern parts of the country, which mainly adheres to the (Sunni) Shafi‘i School. The Shafi‘i position on sharecropping, which is analysed in detail on the basis of two texts by eminent jurists, considers the musāqāh contract as the only one legally valid. According to the—generally speaking— more pragmatic Zaydi view, for which again two texts by authoritative scholars are examined, all three major types of sharecropping contracts should be considered legally valid, given certain conditions. Based on a field survey by the author, Part II of Donaldson’s book investigates the practical side of sharecropping in today’s Yemen. The detailed description of the existing crop-sharing systems takes the reader to the interesting topic of the water rights attached to the agricultural land and the consequences these had for dividing the harvest. Besides the water source, other factors such as land, crop and property ownership—alone or on combination—have to be taken into account when interpreting the variability of the