Taking jugs from a potter without payment

Question

Question: In some villages potters take clay from waste land, and the villagers fix ablution jugs or other vessels from them as this payment, and these jugs are used in the mosque. Is this permissible or not?

Answer

If the villagers are the owners of that land and sell the clay to the potters, and the potters give jugs and the like as the price, then using those jugs is valid. If they are not the owners, they have no right to take jugs from the potters free of charge, and in that case it is necessary to return those jugs to the potters; using them at home or giving them to the mosque is…

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

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