What is the legal ruling regarding a business venture financed entirely by one partner, with the understanding that the other two partners will repay their share later as a benevolent loan (qard hasan), and they will work in the project in exchange for the financier being primarily exempt from working in it, though he contributes intellectually and physically at times? Is this loan considered usurious because it draws the benefit of exemption from work for the financier, and what is the legitimate solution for this?

The agreement reached between the partners constitutes an impermissible form of riba (usury), as it involves the lender stipulating a benefit, namely being exempt from work while his two partners undertake it. This is because every loan that draws a benefit is riba. This transaction invalidates the contract due to uncertainty (jahalah) regarding the profit, because the equal distribution of profit among the three partners, despite the difference in their labor, leads to uncertainty about the amount of additional profit for the two working partners.

Accordingly, the bookstore belongs to the financier, who is entitled to all the profit and bears all the loss. The other two are entitled to a fair wage (ajrat al-mithl) for the duration of their work. The suggestion that they receive a salary after the debt is repaid does not rectify the partnership.