Usurpation: Claiming Ownership of Disputed Land Based on an Old Document

Practical Laws of Islam as per the teachings of Imam Khamenei

Usurpation: Claiming Ownership of Disputed Land Based on an Old Document

English:

Question #1865:

I have been among a chain of people who changed hands in buying the same plot of land. However, I built a house on the land. A person has come forward, claiming that the land is his. He produced a document, dating back to the days prior to the revolution, to this effect. Accordingly, he filed a lawsuit against me and a number of my neighbours.

Would my exercising the right of ownership over this land amount to usurpation?

Answer #1865:

Buying the land from the previous proprietor should, according to the sharī‘ah, be deemed correct, and so is the ownership of the land. So unless the claimant establishes his legal ownership of the land in court, he has no right to contest the ownership of the present proprietor of the land.

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