#1038: Can I Destroy Plants Planted By An Intruder On My Plot Of Land?
“Assalamualaikum warahmatullahi Wabarakaatuh. May Allah ease our affairs and bless our efforts Ya sheikh,pls I have a question I need an urgent response to. A sister just called me now that she has a small piece of land she wants to develop but because she is not ready she do cultivate it every year now it’s the season she went there to do her work and then found that an unknown person has cultivated it .Will she commit any error if she destroy what the person has planted and put her own?”
ANSWER:
Wa Alaykum Salam Warahmatullah Wabarakaatuh
Amin, may Allah accept your Du’a
Alhamdulillah.
Know, may Allah honor you and your household that Islam the Din of Allah is a Din of caution and carefulness, not that of rashness and quickness to act based on perception.
There is one of two scenerio in this matter;
The first, that the planter of the seeds planted them based on a Shub’hah (a doubt). In this scenerio, it is probable that the planter assumes that he has right over this piece of land probably because he was tricked into purchasing this land from someone who he thinks has legal right over it, or it’s likes. In this situation, it is not permissible for you to destroy those crops. It is either you pay the planter for the plants cultivated with whatever amount agreed between you both. Or any other forms of reconciliation that you can both agree with. This is the recommendation of the Fuqahaa. Imam Is’haaq bn Khalil Al-Maliki mentioned this in his Mukhtasar.
The second scenerio, that there is no Shub’hah and the planter in this scenerio is regarded as an intruder. In this scenerio the owner is at liberty to either ask the intruder to remove his plants himself and level the plot. Or he does that himself and demand for money to pay for the laborers who did the unplanting and leveling. In this scenerio there is no compensation for the planter because he is considered an intruder. Imam Ibn Qudaamah Al-Maqdisi rahimahullah said that in Al-Mughni.
He not only loses the plants, he also must pay for the cost of taking off the plants.
And Allah knows best.
We are saying, be careful and don’t be rash in this matter. There are several situations whereby people are oblivious of land demarcations or ownership of certain plots of lands. Be considerate and careful in handling matters like this.
May Allah reward you, amin.
Barakallahu Fikum
Jazakumullahu Khayran.
Abū Asim
22nd Shawwāl, 1441AH.
📚 IslāmNode
