Whose Statement Is Accepted Concerning a Mosque

Question

Question: In our neighbourhood, 51 years ago, land was registered to a jamaʿat (community). A foundation was laid on this land and it was enclosed; apart from that, nothing else is to be seen on this land. The said land was purchased for a price with collected donations. It is known from the old registers and the like that this land belongs to such-and-such of our people — the residents of four neighbourhoods. The people of three neighbourhoods live about a quarter of a mile from this land.

Answer

It is evident that no mosque has yet been built there. In the papers concerning this land there are statements of both kinds. It is correct according to the Sharia to rely on the statement given by the old people who are still alive and who say that they themselves were present at the meeting at that time, because a statement is a Sharʿi proof (hujja).

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

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