Endowment: Challenging Ownership After Eighty Years Without Proof of Endowment

Practical Laws of Islam as per the teachings of Imam Khamenei

Endowment: Challenging Ownership After Eighty Years Without Proof of Endowment

English:

Question #2046:

Eighty years ago, a person bought a plot of land. After his death, his inheritors carried out certain transactions in connection with it. The buyers passed away. Their inheritors became the holders of the actual control. Forty years ago, they officially registered the land in their names and built houses on it. A person has now come forward, claiming that the land has been endowed for the benefit of the children of the original owner and that he did not have the right to sell it. It is worth mentioning that during the eighty years no one laid a claim to the ownership of the land. There is neither a document nor a testament that could be relied on to prove the claim. What should the position of the rightful owners of the land be?

Answer #2046:

If the claimant is unable to prove in shar‘ī way his claim of endowment and impermissibility of selling the land, all the transactions carried out are valid and the holders of actual control of the property should be deemed as the owners.

-Imam Khamenei, Practical Laws of Islam, Importance and Conditions of Endowments