Hire of a mount in turns (kira al-aqib)

Kira' is rent, and 'aqb is succession. In the jurists' terms, kira' al-'aqb is letting a beast to two people, so that one rides for some days and the other for others, or one rides a stretch of the road and the other a further stretch. It takes its name from each of them following the other and riding in his place ¹.

Most jurists allow both forms. Where a regular custom of time or distance exists, it is followed; otherwise the parties agree ¹. If the owner is stipulated to ride first, the contract is void in a lease of a specific beast, because it delays the hirer's right and ties the hire to the future ^{1 2}.

The time counted in the turns is riding time, not the time spent dismounting. If one of them gets down to rest or feed the beast, that time is not counted, since what is wanted is the distance covered, not the time itself ¹. If two people hire a beast that cannot carry both, the contract is read as alternating, and they divide by time or distance; if they dispute who starts, lots are drawn. If the beast can carry both, both ride ^{1 2}.

If the two agree to ride one day and walk the next, or three days and three days, or any other pattern, it is allowed. If they disagree, neither is compelled to accept the other's pattern, since it harms each of them and the beast ². If two people hire a camel to ride it in turns, it is allowed, and they divide the distance by agreement or by assignment; Ibn Qudama suggests it may be valid only if each is given a specific ride ^{2 3}.

The sounder Shafi'i view forbids kira' al-'aqb in both forms, since it is the hire of disconnected periods. Other Shafi'i views allow the form in which the beast is hired to two people, because the period of hire is continuous, and allow both forms if the hire is owed as a debt. Al-Muzani holds that it is valid only if guaranteed as a debt ². The Hanbalis, as Ibn Qudama reports, hold that it is valid only if the rider for each turn is named ³.

Hanafi texts on the pilgrimage imply that the hire of a mount in turns is permitted: a person who can hire a mount to take him by turns for a league or a stage is not obliged to go on foot. The Malikis allow the hirer to stipulate that the hired man rides the sixth mile with the hirer or in place of him, after every five miles, which is well known as a practice. The Maliki 'uqba is the sixth mile ³.