completely. If it is said: There is nothing in this that necessitates the endowment (waqf) status, for it is possible he left it for the Muslims in general, thus it would be fay' (spoils of war) for the Muslims, and the Imam is their deputy, acting in whatever he sees as the interest, whether by sale or otherwise; and it is also possible he left it to its original owners, as the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) did in Makkah. We say: As for the first, it is not correct, for Umar only refrained from dividing it so it would be a resource for all Muslims, to benefit from while the core remains intact, and this is the meaning of waqf. If it were permissible to designate a specific group with its core, then those who conquered it would be more deserving of it; therefore, it is not permissible to deny it to its owners due to a corruptive factor and then designate others for it while the same prohibitive corruptive factor exists. The second is more manifestly corrupt than the first; for if he denies it to the deserving Muslims, how could he designate it for the polytheistic dhimmis who have no right or share in it?

Section: If we pronounce the sale valid, then it remains in the hand of the buyer exactly as it was in the hand of the seller, and he pays its kharaj (land tax); and the meaning of purchase here is the transfer of possession from the seller to the buyer for a consideration. If he stipulates that the kharaj remains on the seller, as Ibn Mas'ud did, then it is a rental, not a purchase, and it is appropriate to stipulate the specification of its term, like all other leases.

Section: If this land is sold and a judge rules in favor of the validity of the sale, it is valid; because this is a matter of disagreement, and it becomes valid by the judge's ruling, like all other matters of ijtihad. If the Imam sells something for an interest he perceives, such as the land requiring development that can only be performed by the one who purchases it, it is also valid; because the act of the Imam is like the ruling of a judge. Ibn 'A'idh (62) mentioned in his book "Futuh al-Sham" that he said: More than one of our sheikhs said: The people asked 'Abd al-Malik, al-Walid, and Sulayman (63) to grant them permission to purchase land from the dhimmis, so they permitted them on the condition that the prices be entered into the public treasury (bayt al-mal). Then, when 'Umar ibn 'Abd al-'Aziz assumed power, he shunned those purchases due to the confusion of matters therein, owing to what had occurred regarding inheritances, women's dowries, and the settlement of debts; he was unable to rectify it or ascertain those matters, so he wrote a letter, which was read to the people in the year one hundred, that whoever purchased anything after the year one hundred, his sale would be annulled. He designated the year one hundred as the cutoff year, so the people ceased purchasing it.