The concept of musharakah and mudarabah envisaged in the books of Islamic Fiqh generally presumes that these contracts are meant for initiating a joint venture whereby all the partners participate in the business right from it’s inception and continue to be partners upto the end of the business when all the assets are liquidated . One can hardly find in the traditional books of Islamic Fiqh the concept of a running business where partners join and leave the enterprise without affecting in any way the continuity of the business. Obviously, the classical books of Islamic Fiqh were written in an environment where the large scale commercial enterprises were not in vogue and the commercial activities were not so complex as they are today. Therefore, they did not generally dwell upon the question of such a running business.

Written by Maulana Taqi Usmani