Someone usurped mosque land and built on it: may the mosque take land in exchange?

Question

Question: Zayd’s house adjoins the mosque. On part of the mosque he forcibly built a house, and part is unbuilt, which is the way out of his house. If, by applying pressure, the land on which nothing has been built is enclosed (taken back), or a fair price is taken, is this permissible in the Shari‘a or not?

Answer

Whatever portion of the mosque’s land he has included in his house must be vacated by him. If he does not vacate it and agrees to give the mosque the same amount of land in exchange for it, then out of necessity that should be accepted. The effort should be precisely that the mosque gets back its original land.

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

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