Exchanging land endowed for an abandoned mosque

Question

Question: A man, on his land situated in a desolate place, merely with the thought that those living in the orchard would gain the reward of praying in a mosque, endowed as waqf in the name of a mosque about one biswa (a measure of land area) in the middle of that land, although there is no settlement there, nor any road passing through the orchard by which wayfarers might come and pray.

Answer

After a waqf has become complete and binding (lazim), selling it is not permissible: [ar]إذا تم ولزم لا يُملك ولا يملك، أي لا يكون مملوكاً لصاحبه، ولا يملك، أي لا يقبل التمليك لغيره بالبيع ونحوه لاستحالة تمليك الخارج عن ملكه[/ar] “Once it (the waqf) is complete and binding, it is not owned and cannot be made owned, i.e.

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

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