Does one who cultivates another’s land become its owner?

Question

Question: A certain person, the respected Mirza ‘Aqil Husain, received some cultivated land as inheritance; his predecessor (from whom he inherited) used to cultivate it. The said land is situated in the township of Sardhana, Meerut. Mirza ‘Aqil Husain resides in Meerut and comes and goes from Meerut now and then. For some time the land was not cultivated and lay fallow.

Answer

Whoever usurps (ghasb) even a span of someone’s land, a collar will be made of the seven earths and put around his neck — this is found in a noble hadith. Therefore usurpation is a major sin (kabira). To believe something that is definitively unlawful in itself (haram li-‘aynihi) to be definitively lawful is kufr.

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

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