Clothes of the Farmer (khammās) according to a Fatwà by al-Qawrī (s. XV)

Abstract

This article focuses on a fatwā— written by the fifteenth-century Muslim jurist al-Qarawī, which is included in al-Wansharīsī’s al- Mi‘yar. In this fatwā— al-Qarawī responds to various questions regarding the making of a contract for labour upon unirrigated land (muzāra‘a) between the landowner and his tenant. Among the questions received on this matter, a request is made for an impoverished landowner to have the right to demand from his tenant the jallābiyya and the salhām/ silhām. Hitherto the term k-bb-sh had not been documented anywhere else under this form. This article suggests that this fatwā contains not one, but rather two distinct fatwā-s. It also takes issue with the differences between the editions of al-Mi‘yar made in Rabat and Fez. Finally, it highlights the various translations and interpretations of the fatwā— and the many divergences between them.