A subset of sharikat al-aqd (contractual partnership) in which two persons or more agree to cooperate and work together for the purpose of making and sharing profit. This is done by commingling their physical and/or mental labor but without contributing capital investment. Partners receive their respective profit shares based on some pre-agreed ratio. An example of such partnership is the pooling of labor resources by two craftsmen who agree to work together and divide profits or shoulder losses on an agreed basis. This form of partnership is considered permissible by the majority of fuqaha (jumhur), literally Hanbalis, Malikis, and Hanafis on the basis of Prophetic approval thereof, and because it is modeled on wakalah contract.

Sharikat al-abdan (Arabic for occupational partnership or vocational partnership) is also known as sharikat al-sanai’e or sharikat al-a’maal.