Buying and Selling: Ruling on Sale of Land Later Discovered to Be Endowment (Waqf)

Practical Laws of Islam as per the teachings of Imam Khamenei

Buying and Selling: Ruling on Sale of Land Later Discovered to Be Endowment (Waqf)

English:

Question #1512:

For my dowry, I had a plot of land which I later sold. Someone has recently claimed that this land has been an endowment for the past two centuries. How should the sale of the land be treated? What would the position of my husband, who gave me this land as a dowry, be? And finally, what would the position of the buyer be?

Answer #1512:

All transactions done on this land are sound until the person who is claiming that the land is an endowment proves his claim before an Islamic court and that endowment is of the kind that is not permissible to be sold. Assuming that both the counts are successfully proven, all the transactions should then be deemed invalid. There and then, it is obligatory on you to return the money to the buyer and the land should be reinstated as endowment. Your husband should compensate the dowry.

-Imam Khamenei, Practical Laws of Islam, Importance and Conditions of Buying and Selling