What is the ruling on a partnership in which a livestock breeder participates by taking the products of the livestock in return for raising them, while the capital owner bears the loss alone, and the profit is divided between them?

The aforementioned transaction is not valid as a partnership (sharika) or a commenda (mudaraba) because the capital consists of goods, not money. As for its validity as a lease (ijara), there is disagreement, because the rent is unknown, being a portion of the livestock's output (milk and cheese), which does not exist at the time of the contract. Thus, it would be a lease on an unknown and non-existent item. It is mentioned in "Al-Insaf" that it is not valid according to the soundest opinion of the madhhab. Others, however, permitted it by analogy with musaqat (irrigation contract) and muzara'ah (agricultural contract). The preponderant view is prohibition, and the legitimate alternative is for the owner of the livestock to hire someone to care for them for a known wage.