The Creed of Compassion-Islamic Teachings & Answering Doctrinal Misconceptions

Issue No.733- When one has nothing but mud, he may, while offering prayer, use mud to cover his body.

Issue No. 2176- If a person does not allow the people to benefit from a mosque, a school, a bridge and other places which have been constructed for public use, he would then be usurping their rights. The position is similar whereby a person reserves a place in the mosque or such other places for himself and another person does not allow him to make use of it.

Issue No. 2177- Seizing the properties of the baytulmāl of Muslims without having a right over it, is also counted as usurpation and is subject to all the rules of usurpation involving greater responsibility in some aspects.

Issue No. 2178- If a third person usurps the property which has been mortgaged to a person, the owner of the property (the mortgagor) as well as the creditor can demand from him what he usurped. And in a case whereby the item perishes, its substitute [if is taken] also becomes mortgaged like the original item.

Issue No. 2179- It is obligatory for a usurper to return the property that he has usurped to its owner as soon as possible, and the more he delays in returning the usurped object, the more sins will be recorded for him, and if it perishes he must give him its substitute.

Issue No. 2180- If some benefit is accrued from a usurped thing, for example, if a lamb is born of a sheep which has been usurped or fruit is obtained from a usurped orchard, they all belong to the owner of the property, though the usurper may have spent time or his energy, etc. on it. Moreover, if a person usurps a house, even if he has not used it, he should pay its rent at the normal rate for the period it has been in his possession. The same applies if he usurps other properties such as cars, etc.

Issue No. 2181- If a person usurps something belonging to a child or an insane person, he should return it to his legal guardian, and if he gives it to the child or the insane person, he will be responsible if it perishes.

Issue No. 2182- When two or more persons usurp a property jointly, each of them will be responsible for a part of it, (if they are two, each of them will be responsible for half of it, and if they are three, each of them will be responsible for one-third of it), whether one of them single-handedly might have been able to usurp it or not.

Issue No. 2183- If a usurped thing is mixed with another, and if it is possible to separate them, he should separate them though it may involve hardship for him, and should return the usurped thing to its owner. And if he has placed it in a faraway place, he will bear all the expenses of transferring that property to its owner.

Issue No. 2184- If a person damages a utensil or any other thing which he has usurped, he should return it to its owner in addition to the difference between the value of the sound property and the damaged one. And if with the aim of not paying the difference, he says that he is ready to make it like the original one, the owner is not obliged to accept the offer. Also, the owner cannot compel him to make it like the original one; he can only demand the difference between the value [of the sound property and the impaired one].

Issue No. 2185- If a person changes a property that he has usurped into something better than before, for example, if he makes an earring or a necklace from the gold usurped by him, and the owner asks him to give it to him in the same (i.e., changed) form, he should give it to him in that form. He cannot claim any charges from the owner for his labour and cannot even change it to its original form without the permission of the owner, and if he does so, he should, as an obligatory precaution, pay the price difference.

Issue No. 2187- If a person usurps a piece of land and cultivates or plants trees in it, the produce of farming and the trees and their fruits are his own property. However, he (the usurper) should pay rent to the owner of the land for the period that the crop and the trees remained on his land. However, if the owner does not permit the crops and the trees remaining on his land, the usurper of the land should pull them out immediately even if he may suffer consequent loss and should also make up for the damage done to the land [if any] by paying the difference in value. Moreover, he cannot compel the owner of the land to sell it or lease it out to him, and the owner of the land too cannot compel him to sell the trees or crops to him.