Journal of Islamic Law Research

Journal of Islamic Law Research

Exploring the Legality of Combining Sale and Lease Contracts in Islamic Jurisprudence: A Study on the Riba-Nullifying Supplement

Type : Research Article

Author
Assistant Professor, Department of Law, Faculty of Humanities, Ayatollah Ozma Borujerdi University, Borujerd, Iran.
Abstract
 ‌Context & Objective: The flexibility of the Islamic legal system allows for complex transactional structures such as the combination of sale and lease contracts within a single creation. While Shia jurisprudence generally accepts the validity of combining two independent contracts based on general principles of contract law and consensus a fundamental tension arises when such combinations intersect with mandatory rules like the prohibition of usury or riba. This article investigates the legal nature of combined contracts to determine whether a lease component can serve as a riba-nullifying supplement for a concurrently executed sale. The research specifically addresses whether the formal legality of combining contracts can substantively override the prohibition of riba in cases where the sale portion involves usurious elements.
 ‌Method & Approach: This study utilizes a doctrinal research methodology to dissect the jurisprudential foundations of combined contracts and the conditions under which a supplement effectively nullifies riba. The analysis employs the theory of dissolution which posits that a single expression of will can be analytically decomposed into multiple independent legal entities. Furthermore, the research applies the rule of price apportionment to demonstrate how a unified consideration is distributed among contract components based on market value. To validate the inherent independence of these components the study uses the argument of multiple owners as a logical test to distinguish between formal and substantive joinder.
 ‌Findings: The research identifies a fundamental distinction between a commodity supplement (joining property to property) and a contractual supplement (joining one contract to another). A commodity supplement effectively changes the subject of sale into a composite item thereby removing the transaction from the scope of riba rules. Conversely a contractual supplement such as a lease remains inherently independent and fails to modify the subject matter of the sale portion. The findings demonstrate that because the lease and sale maintain distinct legal identities the lease cannot function as a riba-nullifying agent. Moreover, legal instruments like price apportionment ensure that mandatory rules such as the requirement for immediate possession in certain sales or the prohibition of riba are applied strictly to the relevant component without being diluted by the accompanying contract.
 ‌Conclusion: Ultimately the study concludes that adding a secondary contract to a primary one does not alter the essential legal identity or the application of mandatory religious prohibitions. In the event that the sale portion of a combined contract is found to be usurious the presence of a lease contract cannot render the transaction valid. These findings highlight a broader jurisprudential priority of substantive legal content over contractual form within Imami law. Practically this distinction provides a critical framework for evaluating modern Islamic banking and finance instruments ensuring that complex financial structures represent genuine asset-based transactions rather than mere formal covers for usurious debt.
Keywords
Subjects

  1. The Holy Quran.
  2. A Group of Scholars (Under supervision of Sayyid Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi) (1417 AH/1996). Muʿjam feqh al-Jawāhir (Vol. 1). Beirut: Al-Ghadir for Printing, Publishing and Distribution [in Arabic].
  3. Amili (Shahid-e Sani), Zain al-Din ibn Ali (1413 AH/1992). Masālik al-afhām ilā tanqīḥ Šarāʾiʿ al-Eslām (Vol. 3). Qom: Islamic Knowledge Institute [in Arabic].
  4. Bahrani (Aal Asfoor), Yousuf ibn Ahmad ibn Ibrahim (1405 AH/1984). al-Ḥadāʾiq al-nāḍirah fī aḥkām al-ʿitrat al-ṭāhirah (Vol. 18). Qom: Islamic Publications Office of the Society of Seminary Teachers [in Arabic].
  5. Eshtehardi, Ali Panah (1417 AH/1996). Madārik al-ʿUrwah (Vol. 27). Tehran: Dar al-Uswah for Printing and Publishing [in Arabic].
  6. Fayz Kashani, Mohammad Mohsen ibn Shah Morteza (n.d.). Mafātīḥ al-šarāʾiʿ (Vol. 3). Qom: Grand Ayatollah Mar'ashi Najafi Library [in Arabic].
  7. Fazel Miqdad, Miqdad ibn Abdallah (1403 AH/1982). Naḍd al-qavāʿid al-feqhīyah ʿalā maḏhab al-Emāmīyah. Qom: Grand Ayatollah Mar'ashi Najafi Library [in Arabic].
  8. Hashemi Shahroudi, Sayyid Mahmoud (1429 AH/2008). Ketāb al-ijārah (Vol. 2). Qom: Encyclopaedia of Islamic Jurisprudence Institute [in Arabic].
  9. Hilli (Allamah), Hasan ibn Yousuf ibn Mutahhar (1413 AH/1992). Qavāʿid al-aḥkām fī maʿrifat al-ḥalāl va al-ḥarām (Vol. 2). Qom: Islamic Publications Office of the Society of Seminary Teachers [in Arabic].
  10. Hilli (Allamah), Hasan ibn Yousuf ibn Mutahhar (1414 AH/1993). Taḏkirat al-foqahāʾ (Modern ed., Vol. 10). Qom: Aal al-Bayt Institute [in Arabic].
  11. Hilli (Muhaqqiq), Jafar ibn Hasan (1408 AH/1987). Šarāʾiʿ al-Eslām fī masāʾil al-ḥalāl va al-ḥarām (Vol. 2). Qom: Ismāʿīlīyān Institute [in Arabic].
  12. Hosseini Amili, Sayyid Mohammad Javad ibn Mohammad (1419 AH/1998). Miftāḥ al-karāmah fī šarḥ Qavāʿid al-ʿAllāmah (Modern ed., Vol. 14). Qom: Islamic Publications Office of the Society of Seminary Teachers [in Arabic].
  13. Hosseini Shirazi, Sayyid Sadiq (1425 AH/2004). al-Taʿlīqāt ʿalā Šarāʾiʿ al-Eslām (Vol. 1). Qom: Esteqlal [in Arabic].
  14. Hurr al-Amili, Mohammad ibn Hasan (1409 AH/1988). Wasāʾil al-Šīʿah (Vol. 18). Qom: Aal al-Bayt Institute [in Arabic].
  15. Ibn Abi Jumhur, Mohammad ibn Ali (1410 AH/1989). al-Aqṭāb al-feqhīyah ʿalā maḏhab al-Emāmīyah. Qom: Grand Ayatollah Mar'ashi Najafi Library [in Arabic].
  16. Ibn Sa'id Hilli, Yahya ibn Ahmad (1405 AH/1984). al-Jāmiʿ lil-šarāʾiʿ. Qom: Sayyid al-Shohada Scientific Institute [in Arabic].
  17. Kulayni, Abu Jafar Mohammad ibn Ya'qub (1407 AH/1986). al-Kāfī (Vol. 5). Tehran: Dar al-Kotob al-Islamiyah [in Arabic].
  18. Mousavi Khalkhali, Sayyid Mohammad Mehdi (1427 AH/2006). Feqh al-Šīʿah: Ketāb al-ijārah (Vol. 1). Tehran: Muneer Cultural Center [in Arabic].
  19. Mousavi Khoei, Sayyid Abu al-Qasim (1418 AH/1997). Mawsūʿat al-Imām al-Khūʾī (Vol. 30). Qom: Al-Khoei Institute [in Arabic].
  20. Mousavi Khoei, Sayyid Abu al-Qasim (n.d.). al-Mustanad fī šarḥ al-ʿUrwat al-vuṯqā. Qom [in Arabic].
  21. Muhaqqiq Karaki, Ali ibn Hossein (1414 AH/1993). Jāmiʿ al-maqāṣid fī šarḥ al-Qavāʿid (Vol. 4). Qom: Aal al-Bayt Institute [in Arabic].
  22. Muqaddas Ardabili, Ahmad ibn Mohammad (1403 AH/1982). Majmaʿ al-fāʾidah va al-burhān fī šarḥ Iršād al-aḏhān (Vol. 8). Qom: Islamic Publications Office of the Society of Seminary Teachers [in Arabic].
  23. Najafi (Sahib al-Jawahir), Mohammad Hasan ibn Baqir (1404 AH/1983). Javāhir al-kalām fī šarḥ Šarāʾiʿ al-Eslām (Vol. 23). Beirut: Dar Ihya al-Turath al-Arabi [in Arabic].
  24. Sabzawari, Sayyid Abd al-A'la (1413 AH/1992). Muhaḏḏab al-aḥkām (Vol. 19). Qom: Al-Manar Institute [in Arabic].
  25. Shahid-e Awwal, Mohammad ibn Makki (n.d.). al-Qavāʿid va al-favāʾid (Vol. 2). Qom: Mofid Bookstore [in Arabic].
  26. Tabatabai Hakim, Sayyid Mohsen ibn Mahdi (1416 AH/1995). Mustamsak al-ʿUrwat al-vuṯqā (Vol. 12). Qom: Dar al-Tafsir Institute [in Arabic].
  27. Tabatabai Qomi, Sayyid Taqi (1423 AH/2002). al-Ārāʾ va al-mabānī fī al-uṣūl va al-feqh va al-rijāl va al-tafsīr (al-Ġāyat al-quṣvā fī al-taʿlīq ʿalā al-ʿUrwat al-vuṯqā: Ketāb al-ijārah) (Vol. 1). Qom: Mahallati [in Arabic].
  28. Yazdi, Sayyid Mohammad Kazim ibn Abd al-Azim (1409 AH/1988). al-ʿUrwat al-vuṯqā (Vol. 2). Beirut: Al-A'lami Foundation for Publications [in Arabic].
  29. Yazdi, Sayyid Mohammad Kazim ibn Abd al-Azim (1419 AH/1998). al-ʿUrwat al-vuṯqā (al-Muḥaššā) (Vols. 2 & 5). Qom: Islamic Publications Office of the Society of Seminary Teachers [in Arabic].

  • Received 25 July 2025
  • Accepted 13 November 2025