The income of land endowed to a mosque once the mosque has become deserted

Question

In the village of Banda Kheri the mosque has 42 bighas of land (a bigha is a local unit of land area). Now refugees have settled there, the mosque is deserted, and the mutawallis are consuming the income of its land; and this land is endowed as waqf in the name of the mosque. The question is: where should its income be spent?

Answer

If that land was endowed in the name of this mosque, then taking possession of it as an owner is not valid. Spend its income on this mosque; if there is nothing to spend it on there, then spend it on whichever mosque in another village is in need. No one should put it to his own use; it is no one’s property.

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

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