There are different views about nature of capital invested by partners in musharakah business. Most of the Muslim jurists are of the opinion that capital must be in liqid form i.e in cash/money. According to them Musharakah can't be executed or formed on capital contributed in commodities. It is mandatory that whole capital must be in form of money or liquid cash and no part of capital should be in form of commodities.
However, there are different views in this respect discussed below in detail.
In view of Imam Malik, there is no restriction of liquidity of capital in musharakah contract. It is not a condition for a valid contract of musharakah. Partners can invest in form of liquid cash or commodities or both. However if a partner invests in form commodities, his share of capital shall be determined on basis of current market price of commodities. This view is also adopted by some Hanbali jurists.
Imam Abu Hanifah and Imam Ahmad are of the view that no contribution in kind is acceptable in a musharakah. Their standpoint is based on two reasons:
Firstly they are of the opinion that if partners contribute in form of commodities, that are always distinguishable from the commodities contributed by other partner. For example, if a partner contributes a vehicle and the other contributes furniture as a capital in a business. In this case, commodities of each partner is distinguishable from the other and no partnership can take place. On the other hand if both partners invest in form of liquid cash, it can't be distinguished and will goes to a common pool. In this case valid partnership can be established.
Secondly they say that in case of redistribution of share capital in musharakah contract, if a capital is in form of commodities it will create problems and redistribution can't take place because commodities have to be sold at that time.It the capital is repaid on the bases of its market value, it may be increased or decreased and whole benefit or loss due to change in market value may go to one partner.
Imam al-Shafi has come in between the two points of view explained above. He says that the commodities are of two kinds:
(i) Dhawat-ul-amthal
the commodities which, if destroyed, can be compensated by the similar commodities in quality and quantity e.g. wheat, rice etc. If 100 kilograms of wheat are destroyed, they can easily be replaced by another 100 kg. of wheat of the same quality.
(ii) Dhawat-ul-qeemah
the commodities which cannot be compensated by the similar commodities, like the cattle. Each head of sheep, for example, has its own characteristics which cannot be found in any other head. Therefore, if somebody kills the sheep of a person, he cannot compensate him by giving him similar sheep. Rather, he is required to pay their price.
Imam al-Shafi is of the point of view that if the commodities pertains to first kind i.e Dhawat-ul-amthal, it may be contributed to Musharakah as a share capital while the commodities of second kind i.e Dhawat-ul-qeemah are not allowed to contribute as a capital in Musharakah contract.
By this distinction between Dhawat-ul-amthal and Dhawat-ul-qeemah, Imam al-Shafi has met the second objection on 'participation by commodities' as was raised by Imam Ahmad. For in the case of Dhawat-ul-amthal, redistribution of capital may take place by giving to each partner the similar commodities he had invested. However, the first objection remains still unanswered by Imam al-Shafi.
In order to meet this objection also, Imam Abu Hanifah is on the point of view that if commodities pertains to Dhawat-ul-amthal, it should be mixed in such a way that the commodities of each partner can't be distinguished from other. If commodities are distinguishable from other, musharakah is not valid.
In short, in view of Imam Malik, musharakah can be executed by contributing commodities as capital, without any restriction. Share of capital is determined on bases of current market value of commodities. While Imam Shafi says that commodities can only be contributed as share capital in musharakah it they pertains to Dhawat-ul-amthal. Imam abu Hanifah says that if commodities are in category of Dhawat-ul-amthal, musharakah contract can be executed by mixing of commodities in such a way that can't be distinguished from other partners, and if commodities are of Dhawat-ul-qeemah, that commodities can't be form part of share capital and no musharakah can be executed.
The view of Imam Malik is more simple and reasonable and meets the needs of modern business. It is more likely to act upon on this view. We may conclude that a musharakah business can be formed on both cash and commodities. However in case of commodoties, current market value should be determined on that date and considered as value of capital.
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