Selling Another’s Trees and Keeping the Price

Question

Zayd and Umar, two persons, had a jointly owned orchard for which there were government and private papers. By mutual consent it was partitioned, and after the division the shares of both were entered in the papers. But with regard to one row of 35 trees, Zayd’s conduct has been that he sells every crop, saying, “This is my share,” and Zayd has been doing this for ten years; in this period the income from these trees is approximately twenty-two thousand rupees. Umar wants to recover all this money of his from Zayd.

Answer

Since Zayd admits that these trees are Umar’s, and Umar did not give him permission to sell his trees and keep their price himself, it is binding on Zayd to give that price to Umar.

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

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