Seizing the land of a mosque as one’s own property

Question

Zayd wants to seize the courtyard of the mosque, the place for the funeral prayer (janaza), the place for religious gatherings and the route of the ta‘ziya (replicas of a shrine carried in processions in Muharram), and build a house there. What is the Shar‘i ruling on this?

Answer

If that place is endowed as waqf for the mosque, then taking possession of it as an owner is usurpation (ghasb) and haram. It is necessary to remove this seizure and hand the place over into the possession of the mosque, and then to build a boundary wall around it and use it for the mosque’s purposes according to its interests, so that such a situation does not arise in future.

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

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