Miscellaneous Issues on Hiring ,Renting ,and Lease 29item A person rented a place from another for a given rent and period. After a while, he cancelled the lease agreement. Can his action be deemed shar‘ī? And on the assumption that he was right in what he did, has the landlord the right to demand the rent for the days during which the tenant was occupying the property? A person leased a piece of arable land, on the condition that he bears all the expenses arising from drilling a well in the land. The leaseholder got the permission for drilling the well from the government in his name and got it running. However, a year later the landlord cancelled the lease from one side. What is the ruling in the matter of the well and its equipment, i.e. does it remain in the ownership of the leaseholder or is it for the landlord? A herdsman brought the herd in his trust to its enclosure and closed the gate. He retired to his home, which is situated some sixteen kilometers away, to spend the night there. A pack of wolves attacked the sheep and preyed on them. Is it obligatory on the owner of the sheep to pay the shepherd his wages? What is the shar‘ī justification of what has become common these days of leaving a deposit by the tenant with the landlord? A person had some property. He put it at the disposal of his neighbor without anything in return. The neighbor has had a free hand with the property for a number of years. The landlord passed away. His heirs laid a claim to the ownership of the property and asked the neighbor to hand it over to them. He refused to accede to their request and filed a counter claim to the effect that the property was his, without producing any evidence to substantiate such a claim. What is the ruling in this matter? A person rented two rooms from their owner on a monthly basis and received the keys. The tenant started moving some of his household appliances into the rooms. When he went away to bring his family, he failed to turn up. The landlord does not know what happened to the tenant. Has the landlord the right to do with the rooms what he likes? What should he do with the personal belongings of the absent tenant? In a lease, the landlord stipulated that the tenant should pay the equivalent of the rent plus a surcharge for every day he stays in the property after the expiry date of the lease. Does the tenant become indebted to the landlord with the amount he undertook to pay in the agreement? An employer pays a middleman the wages of his workers. The middleman pays them less than what he receives from the employer. What is the view on such a practice? An agent works for a foreign company to sell its products. He gets a commission calculated as a percentage of the total price of the sold goods. Is this shar‘ī? Assuming that a government official has a connection with the agent, is it permissible for the official to get paid part of the commission? On starting work for a company, its official undertook to pay me salary plus the usual allowances for accommodation, holidays, and insurance contributions. Despite the fact that many years have passed, the company has not honored its undertaking. Since I do not have a written contract with the company, am I justified in demanding my rights by starting legal proceedings against the company? Two government departments signed an agreement whereby one of them gave the other the right of using a part of a building that belongs to one of them. In return for this the recipient department allocated funds in its budget to be used, during the tenure, by the department which put its property at the disposal of the other. Is it permissible for these departments to do so? I bought a four-year lease of a plot of arable land alongside a share of the irrigation water. The landlord and I agreed that he has the right to cancel the contract at the beginning of the second year. However, the landlord did not exercise this right and received the rent for the third year, giving me a receipt for that. Is it permissible for the landlord or another party, who claims to be the new owner, to have the right of disposal in the leased property before the expiry date? I rented a business property to a person, on the condition that he uses it to trade in foodstuffs. This has been provided for in the lease agreement. The tenant did not abide by the condition. Is it permissible for him to go about his business in this way? And am I justified in canceling the lease agreement by default? A group of company employees live in accommodations provided by the company. The agent of the landlord claims that there is an ongoing dispute with the company over the rent. He further adds that until the court settles the dispute, the landlord does not consider the tenants as having the right to occupy the property, among which is the invalidity, according to him, of their prayers. Is it obligatory that they repeat their prayers or is nothing required from them because they were not aware of the situation? A person hired a person to recite the Holy Qur’an in a mourning ceremony. The hired person forgot to dedicate it to the person who hired him. However, after he finished the service, he wanted to make an amends by dedicating it to the person who asked him. Is he right in doing so and should, therefore, receive the agreed fee? 12