he sells them and collects his debt from their price and gives the remainder in charity. If he had not given him permission to sell them, he refers them to the ruler to sell them and pay him (24) his due from their price, and gives the remainder in charity.

Section: Al-Fadl ibn Ziyad reported from Ahmad that if the owner of a house and the resident dispute over a buried item in the house, and each of them says, "I am the one who buried it," then each of them must explain (25) what it is that he buried. Whoever gets the description right, it belongs to him. This is because what is found in the ground in terms of buried items that bear the mark of the Muslims is considered a lost item (luqta), and a lost item is claimed by its description. Furthermore, the one who is correct in his description is, in outward appearance, the one who had it in his possession, so he is more entitled to it, just as if two strangers disputed over it and one of them described it.

Section: Whoever finds a lost item in the Abode of War (Dar al-Harb), if he is in the army, Ahmad said: He announces it for a year in the Abode of Islam (Dar al-Islam), then he places it in the division of spoils (26). He only announced it in the Abode of Islam because the wealth of the people of the Abode of War is permissible, and it is possible that it belongs to a Muslim, and also because he may not be able to remain in the Abode of War to announce it. Its meaning—and Allah knows best—is that he completes the announcement in the Abode of Islam; as for the initial announcement, it should take place within the army he is in, because it is possible that it belongs to one of them, and when he returns, he completes the announcement in the Abode of Islam. As for if he entered their land under a covenant of protection (aman), he should announce it in their land, because their wealth is prohibited to him, so if it is not identified, he owns it just as he would own it in the Abode of Islam. And if he is in the army, he places it in the division of spoils after the announcement because he reached it through the power of the army, so it is similar to the permissible goods of the Abode of War when he takes something from them. And if he entered them,