My uncle sent me along with a servant of his to Saeed bin Musayab. We said to him, "Something has reached us from you concerning sharecropping."He said, "Ibn Umar saw no harm in it until news reached him from Rafi bin Khadij. He went to him, and Rafi informed him that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ came to the tribe of Haritha and saw a crop in the land of Zaheer. He said, 'How excellent is Zaheer's crop!'They said, 'It does not belong to Zaheer.'He asked, 'Is it not Zaheer's land?'They replied, 'Yes, but the crop belongs to so-and-so.'He said, 'Then take your crop and return to him what he spent.'"Rafi said, "So we took our crop and returned to him what he had spent."Saeed said, "Lend it to your brother free of charge, or rent it out for dirhams."
بعثني عمي أنا وغلاما له إلى سعيد بن المسيب قال: فقلنا له: شيء بلغنا عنك في المزارعة؟ قال: كان ابن عمر لا يرى بأسا بها حتى بلغه عن رافع بن خديج، فأتاه، فأخبره رافع أن رسول الله ﷺ أتى بني حارثة، فرأى زرعا في أرض ظهير، فقال: ما أحسن زرع ظهير! قالوا: ليس لظهير. قال: أليس أرض ظهير؟ قالوا: بلى، ولكنه زرع فلان. قال: فخذوا زرعكم، وردوا عليه النفقة. قال رافع: فأخذنا زرعنا، ورددنا إليه النفقة. قال سعيد: أفقر أخاك أو أكره بالدراهم.
Abu Dawud (3399), Nasai (3889), and Bayhaqi (6/136) narrated it through the route of Abu Dawud, all of them from the hadith of Yahya bin Saeed, who said, "Abu Jafar Khatami narrated to us," and he mentioned it. Its isnad is sahih. Abu Jafar Khatami is Umayr bin Yazid Ansari, trustworthy. He was declared trustworthy by Ibn Main, Nasai, Ibn Mahdi, Ibn Numayr, Ajli, Ibn Hibban, and others.As for Bayhaqi's statement, "I have not seen Bukhari and Muslim rely on him in any hadith," this is an unacceptable statement, since reliance by Bukhari and Muslim is not a condition for establishing the reliability of narrators. That is why Ibn Turkmani critiqued him, saying, "He is trustworthy. Hakim included him in Mustadrak, so their not relying on him does not harm him."Ibn Abu Hatim said, "I asked my father about this hadith, and he said, 'Hammad bin Salama narrated it, from Abu Jafar Khatami, that the Prophet ﷺ ... but he did not transmit it precisely. The correct version is the hadith of Yahya, because Yahya was a trustworthy memorizer.'" He said, "This strengthens the hadith of Sharik, from Abu Ishaq, from Ata, from Rafi bin Khadij." Then he mentioned the hadith and said, "As for Shafii, he rejects the hadith of Ata, saying that Ata never met Rafi." Abu Hatim said, "No, he did meet him." Ilal (1/475–476).As for his statement, "Lend your brother the use of it, or rent it for dirhams," the meaning of "lend your brother" is that he lend it to him. The origin of the word afqara lies in lending the back of an animal, for it is said, "I have afqartu the man," meaning I lent him the back of my animal to ride. This was noted by Khattabi.The apparent meaning of these hadiths indicates that the crop follows the land, while the jurists of the various regions hold that the crop follows the seed. This is what Bayhaqi said (6/136). Refer to this matter in the books of Islamic jurisprudence.