If someone says: “Everything you have mentioned only proves that it is permissible for you to dispose of these lands. It does not prove that you may validly own them through purchase and sale. Therefore, if purchase and sale are not valid, then whatever depends upon ownership is also not valid, such as endowment, grant, gift, and similar matters.” It is said to him in reply: “We have already divided lands into three categories. The first is land whose people accepted Islam while remaining upon it. Such land is left in their hands and is their property. Therefore, whatever falls under this ruling may validly be bought and sold by us. The second is land taken by force (anwatan), or land whose people entered into a peace treaty concerning it. We have permitted buying and selling this type of land because we have a share in it, since it is land belonging to the Muslims. For this reason, purchase and sale are also valid in this category. The third is the anfal and whatever falls under the same ruling. These cannot be validly owned through purchase and sale; rather, we have only been permitted to dispose of them.” What indicates the second category is what he narrated (in the following hadith):
Commentary #6