Mudharaba is where two persons (or more) participate in trading, where the capital comes from one of them and the work from the other. That is, the body of one person enters into partnership with the property of another person. This means that the work will be carried out by one of them and the other will provide the property. The two partners agree on a certain share of the profit. An example of this is when one of them provides one thousand pounds and the other person works with it, and the profit is divided between them. The money must be handed over to the body partner, who is given a free hand over the money, because Mudharaba requires the handing over of the property to the body partner (Mudharib). The body partner has the right to stipulate upon the property owner that He has a third, or half of the profit, or whatever they may agree on together as a defined portion of the profit. This is because the body partner (Mudharib) is entitled to the profit due to his work. It is thus allowed for the partners to agree on the profit of the Mudharib whether it is little or great. So Mudharaba is a kind of work which is a legal means of ownership. The Mudharib thus possesses the property, which He profited from via Mudharaba due to his work in accordance with what was agreed.

Mudharaba is a kind of company, because it is a partnership of a body and property. The company is one of the transactions which the Shar’a has allowed. Abu Hurairah (ra) said that the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) said: “Allah says: ‘I am the third of the two partners unless one of them betrays his companion, so if one of them betrays his companion I withdraw from them.’” The Prophet (pbuh) (pbuh) said: “The hand of Allah is on the two partners unless they betray each other.” Al-Abbas ibn Abdul- Muttalib (ra) narrated that, when He handed a property as Mudharaba, He used to stipulate on the Mudharib not to travel with it by the sea, not to descend a valley nor to trade with live things, otherwise He would have to guarantee losses incurred. The Prophet (pbuh) of Allah (pbuh) became aware of that and He approved of it. The companions (ra) have agreed unanimously that Mudharaba is allowed. ’Umar ibn Al Khattab (ra) used to hand over the orphans’ property for Mudharaba. Uthman ibn Affan (ra) handed some property to a man as Mudharaba. So the Mudharib gains a property for himself by working with the property of another person. The Mudharaba by the Mudharib is thus work and one of the valid means of ownership. However for the owner of the property it is not a means of ownership, rather it is a means of investing the ownership.