The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) forbade the leasing of land. He said: I then asked: 'For gold and silver?' He replied: 'He only forbade it for a portion of what comes out of it; as for gold and silver, there is no harm in it.' Agreed upon. From Sa'd, who said: 'We used to lease the land for what was upon the water-channels and what was irrigated (sa'ida) by water from it, so the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) forbade us from that and commanded us to lease it for gold or silver.' Recorded by Abu Dawud. This is because it is an asset from which it is possible to derive permitted benefit while it remains intact, so it is permissible to lease it for monetary values and the like, such as houses. The ruling on goods (al-'urud) is like the ruling on monetary values. As for their hadith, the narrator has already interpreted it in the way we mentioned from him, so it is not permissible to use it as evidence against other than it. Our hadith explains their hadith, for the narrator of both is the same, and he narrated it in a general and a specific sense; therefore, the general is interpreted in light of the specific, especially with the specific being in agreement with the rest of the hadiths, analogy, and the opinion of most scholars. As for leasing it for food, it is divided into three categories: The first is that he leases it for a known food item other than what comes out of it; this is permissible. Ahmad explicitly stated this in the narration of al-Hasan ibn Thawab, and it is the opinion of most scholars, including Sa'id ibn Jubayr, Ikrimah, al-Nakha'i, al-Shafi'i, Abu Thawr, and the jurists (Ashab al-Ra'y). Malik forbade it, to the point that he even forbade leasing it for milk and honey. It has been narrated from Ahmad that he said: 'I sometimes feel apprehensive about it.' The Qadi said: 'This from Ahmad is by way of precaution (wara'), while his school of thought allows it.' The argument for Malik is what Rafi' ibn Khadij narrated from some of his paternal uncles who said: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: 'Whoever possesses land should not lease it for a specified food.' Recorded by Abu Dawud and Ibn Majah. Zahir ibn