Ju’alah (also transliterated ju’ala or jua’ala/ jua’alah) is a commutative contract in which one the parties (known in Arabic as al-ja’il) offers to pay a specified amount (compensation or in Arabic ju’l or al-ju’l) to whoever (the worker or in Arabic al-amil) performs a specific task or achieves a predetermined result in a specified or unspecified period of time. Ju’alah has many practical applications particularly in activities where the extent of work is unknown or cannot be specified for certain. However, the uncertainty of work under ju’alah is of a proportion that can be ignored or overlooked as it doesn’t affect the contract in a significant manner. Though a special case of ijarah, ju’alah can be distinguished from ijarah by the following aspects:

• Uncertainty of work (gharar) doesn’t invalidate ju’alah contracts irrespective of the extent of the required result.
• Unlike typical commutative contracts, ju’alah doesn’t require acceptance.
• Not knowing the other party doesn’t render ju’alah invalid.
• Ju’alah is not a binding contract (it can be terminated by either party unilaterally), in contrast with ijarah which is a binding contract.
• The worker is entitled to ju’l (compensation) only if the underlying work/ task has been completed and the result has been achieved.