Agricultural and Urban Land Rent, Sharecropping, and Land Reforms: A Suggested Islamic Economic Agenda

Abstract

As distribution of income is the central focus of Islamic economics, the nature and contribution made by different factors of production, their ownership and rewards must be revisited in light of the guiding principles of Islam. This paper attempts to set a land reform agenda for an Islamic economy while discussing a case study of land reform in Pakistan. It is observed that whatever steps taken towards land reform in Pakistan have remained largely unimplemented. Moreover, the ensuing debate about their Islamicity failed to consider fundamental goals of an Islamic economy. It is argued that, in the presence of conflicting aḥādīth on land, land rent and sharecropping, it is imperative to formulate judicious principles for a possible agenda for reforms that transcends beyond agricultural sector to residential and commercial land.