Liaison office of Grand Ayatullah Sayyid Ali Al Sistani (L.M.H.L) in London, Europe, North and South America.
2201. The property which the lessor gives on lease should be
identified. Hence if it is one of the things whose transaction is made by weight
(e.g. wheat), its weight should be specified. And if it is one of those things
whose transaction is made by counting (e.g. currency coins), the amount should
be specified. And if it is like a horse or a sheep, the lessor should have a
sight of it, or the lesser should inform him of its particulars.
2202. If land is given on lease for farming, and the produce of that
very land which does not presently exist, is treated as its rent, the lease
contract will not be valid. And the same applies if he assumes a general
responsibility to pay the rent on the condition that it will be paid from the
harvest. But if the source from which rent will be paid exists, there is no
objection.
2203. If a person has leased out something, he cannot claim its rent
until he has delivered it. And if a person is hired to perform an act, he cannot
claim wages until he has performed that act, except in the cases where advance
payment of wages is an accepted norm, like Niyabat for Hajj.
2204. If a lessor delivers the leased property, the lessee should pay
the rent, even if he may not take the delivery, or may take its delivery but may
not utilise it till the end of the period of lease.
2205. If a person agrees to perform a task on a particular day against
wages, and appears on that day to perform the task, the person who has hired him
should pay him the wages, even if he may not assign that task to him. For
example, if a tailor is hired to sew a dress on a particular day, and he appears
to do the work, the hirer should pay him the wages even if he may not provide
him with the cloth to sew, irrespective of whether the tailor remains without
work on that day or alternatively does his own or somebody else's work.
2206. If it transpires after the expiry of the period of lease, that
the lease contract was void, the lessee should give the usual rent of that thing
to the owner of the property. For example, if a person takes a house on lease
for one year on a rent of $100, and learns later that the lease contract was
void, and if the normal current rent of the house is $50, he should pay $50.
And if its normal current rent is $200, and the person who leased it out
was its owner, or his agent, and was aware of the current rate of rental, it is
not necessary for the lessee to give him more than $100. But if a person other
than these gave it on lease, the lessee should pay $200. And the same order
applies, if it is known during the period of lease, that the lease contract is
void in relation to the outstanding rent for the past period.
2207. If a thing taken by a person on lease is lost, and if he has not
been negligent in looking after it nor extravagant in its use, he is not
responsible for the loss. Also, if, for example, a cloth given to a tailor is
damaged or destroyed, when the tailor has not been extravagant, and has also not
shown negligence in taking care of it, he need not make any replacement.
2208. If an artisan loses the thing taken by him, he is responsible
for it.
2209. If a butcher cuts off the head of an animal, and makes it
haraam, he must pay its price to its owner, regardless of whether he charged for
slaughtering the animal or did it gratis.
2210. If a person takes an animal on hire, and specifies as to how
much he will load on it, and if he puts a heavier load on it, and as a result,
the animal dies or becomes defective, he is responsible for it. And even if the
quantity of the load is not specified, and he puts an unusually heavier load on
it with the result that the animal dies or becomes defective, the person
concerned is responsible. And in both the cases, he must pay extra rent than is
usual.
2211. If a person gives an animal on hire so that fragile goods may be
loaded on it, and the animal slips or trots and breaks the things, the owner of
the animal is not responsible for it. However, if the owner beats the animal
severely, or does something like it, as a result of which the animal falls down
on the ground, and breaks the goods he (the owner of the animal) is responsible.
2212. If a person circumcises a child, and as a consequence of it the
child dies, or is injured, the person who circumcises is responsible if he has
been careless or made a mistake, like having cut the flesh more than usual.
However, if he was not careless, or did not make any mistake, and the child dies
due to circumcision, or sustains an injury, he will not be responsible, provided
that, he had not been consulted earlier about the possible injury, nor was he
aware that the child would be injured.
2213. If a doctor gives medicines to a patient with his own hands, or
prescribes a medicine for him, and if the patient sustains harm or dies because
of taking that medicine, the doctor is responsible, even if he had not been
careless in treating the patient.
2214. If a doctor tells a patient: "If you sustain harm I am not
responsible" and then exercises due precaution and care in the treatment, but
the patient sustains harm or dies, the doctor is not responsible.
2215. The lessee and the lessor can cancel the lease contract with
mutual consent. Also if a condition was laid down in the lease contract that one
or both of them would have the option to cancel the contract, they can cancel
the contract as agreed.
2216. If the lessor or the lessee realises that he has been cheated,
if he did not notice at the time of making the lease contract that he was being
cheated, he can cancel the lease contract. However, if a condition is laid down
in the contract of lease, that even if the parties are cheated, they will not be
entitled to cancel the contract, they cannot cancel it.
2217. If a person gives something on lease, and before he delivers it
to the other party, it is usurped, the lessee can cancel the lease contract and
take back whatever he has given to the lessor, or he may not cancel the lease
contract, and take from the usurper rent at the usual rate, for the period the
thing remained in his possession. Therefore, if a person takes an animal on
lease for one month for $10, and someone usurps if for ten days, and the usual
rent for ten days is $15, the lessee can take $15 from the usurper.
2218. If a lessee hires something and someone prevents him from taking
its delivery, or usurps it from him, after he has taken the possession, or
prevents him from using it, he cannot cancel the lease. He is entitled only to
take rent of that thing from the usurper at the usual rate.
2219. If the lessor sells the property to the lessee before the expiry
of the period of lease, the lease contract does not get cancelled, and the
lessee should give the rent of the property to the lessor. The same rule will
apply if the lessor sells the leased property to someone else.
2220. If before the commencement of the period of lease, the leased
property gets so impaired that it cannot be utilised in the manner agreed upon,
the lease contract becomes void, and the money paid by the lessee will revert
back to him. And if it is possible to utilise the property partly, the lessee
can cancel the lease contract.
2221. If a person takes something on lease, and during the period of
lease it becomes so impaired that it is not fit for the required use, the
remaining lease contract will be void, and the lessee can cancel the lease for
the past period also. And for that period, he may pay usual rent.
2222. If a person leases out a house which has, for example, two
rooms, and one of those rooms is ruined and he gets it repaired, but it does not
match the standard of the previous room, the rule mentioned in 2221, will apply
in this case also. But if it is repaired by the hirer at once, and its use does
not get interrupted, then the lease does not become void, and the lessee cannot
cancel the lease. However, if the repair takes too long, and its use is
interrupted, then the lease will be invalid for that much period, and in this
case, the lessee can cancel the whole lease, and in exchange of whatever use he
may have made, he should pay a usual rent.
2223. If the lessor or the lessee dies, the lease contract does not
become void. But if the house is not the property of the lessor - for example,
another person made a will that as long as he (the lessor) is alive, the income
derived from the house will be his property, and if he gives that house on
lease, and dies before the expiry of the lease period, the lease contract
becomes void from the time of his death. It can become valid again if the owner
of the house endorses the contract, and the rent for the remaining period of
lease, after the death of the lessor, will accrue to the present owner.
2224. If an employer appoints a contractor to recruit labourers for
him, and if the contractor pays the labourers less than what he receives for
them from the employer, the excess he keeps is haraam for him, and he should
return it to the employer. And if the contractor is given a full contract by the
employer, to complete a building, and is authorised to either construct it
himself or give a sub-contract to another party, if he joins with the other
party in doing some work, and then entrusting him to do the remaining work
against lower payment than what he has collected from the employer, the surplus
with him will be halal for him.
2225. If a person who dyes the clothes, agrees to dye a cloth with
indigo, he has no right to claim any charges if he dyes it with something else.