Ownership through sowing on unowned land

Question

Question: In brief: here in the mountain forests there is no cultivation; rather, there is forest for grazing livestock, and for six months the livestock graze in this forest. The government forest department takes a tax of 12 rupees per buffalo for six months. In the forests there are some people who are old inhabitants; in some places they plant vegetables and the like, and these people pay no tax or anything.

Answer

Whatever anyone sows on unowned land is his, and another is not permitted to use it. But if someone has taken land on hire from its owner, then another person has no right to cultivate in it, and he is permitted to pull out the other’s vegetables and the like and throw them away — and this is evident. By paying a tax per buffalo the whole land will not be counted as hired.

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

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