Tashrik (associating another in a sale, an act of worship or a divorce)

Tashrik is bringing another into an affair so that he becomes a partner in it, as with a purchase. It is lawful in a purchase and the like by consensus. ¹

In the lexicon, tashrik is the verb «associated him» (adkhalahu fi al-amr wa-ja'alahu sharikan), and it is used for a buyer who lets another pay part of the price and become a partner in the sale. ¹ Ishrak has the same sense; the sense of «associating a god with God» is treated under its own entry. ¹

There is no dispute that mixing a purpose that needs no intention into the intention of worship is lawful, such as trade during the pilgrimage, fasting with the aim of health, ablution with the aim of cooling down, and prayer with the aim of escaping a creditor. ^{1 2} Fighting for the sake of God with the aim of booty is also lawful. Mixing differs from showing off, which is doing an act so that someone other than God sees it. ²

The author of Mughni al-Muhtaj reports that one who intends the ablution with the aim of cooling down, along with a valid intention to purify, is valid on the sound view; the other view says it harms, because it mixes an act of devotion with something else. ² Reward is apparently not gained in that case; al-Ghazali took the dominant motive as the test, and Ibn Abd al-Salam held that there is no reward at all. ²

If the two acts fall within one another, such as the Friday and major-impurity washings, the major-impurity and menstrual washings, or the Friday and festival washings, or one of them is not intended in itself, such as the greeting of the mosque with an obligatory prayer, it does not harm the worship. ³ Two acts intended in themselves, such as the noon prayer and its sunna, cannot be combined under one intention. ³

A buyer may take in a partner by contract, saying to a person who knows the price «I have made you a partner in this sale», and the other accepts; this is agreed. ³ If the share is stated as a half or a quarter, that is the share; if unstated, it is a half, since unqualified partnership implies equality. ³

If a man says to his four wives «I have pronounced one divorce upon you», each one falls under one divorce, since one divorce cannot be divided. ³ If he says two, three or four, each falls under one only, unless he meant to share each divorce among them, in which case two gives each two and three and four give each three. ³