Endowment: Using Endowed Property When Its Beneficiaries Are Unknown

Practical Laws of Islam as per the teachings of Imam Khamenei

Endowment: Using Endowed Property When Its Beneficiaries Are Unknown

English:

Question #2038:

If we know that a certain property is an endowment, although the avenue in which the proceeds are to be spent is not known, how should the residents and farmers, making use of the land, go about the matter?

Answer #2038:

Should the endowed land have a trustee, the parties making use of the land should approach him with a view to leasing the land. Otherwise, they should bring the matter up with the authorized religious authority. As to the avenues for which the endowment should be spent, there are different cases as follows:

a) we doubt whether the beneficiaries belong to category a, b, or c but there are some people who belong to all the possible categories, then, we should spend the proceeds for them e.g. the property was endowed for the descendants of the Holy prophet (S), the poor, or religious scholars, then we give it to the poor religious scholars among the descendants of the Holy Prophet (S);

b) the foresaid case but we cannot find some people who belong to all the possible categories then three cases are recognised:

1) the categories are maḥṣūrah, in which case, we should draw a lot to determine the beneficiaries;

2) The categories are not maḥṣūrah but are related to some groups of people, e.g. it is endowed for offspring of an anonymous person among many people, in which case, the proceeds are ruled as the property of an anonymous owner. It is obligatory to give them to the poor;

3) The categories are not maḥṣūrah but are related to some purposes like a masjid, a bridge a shrine, etc, in which case, it is obligatory to spend the proceeds for projects of common interest which serve at least one of the purposes.

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