Selling One’s Houses So That the Mosque Becomes Deserted

Question

(1) There is a small town in which people of various communities have been living for about two hundred years; it also has one hundred to one hundred and fifty Muslim homes. There is also a mosque in this street. For many years the neighbourhood and the mosque were populated, but now, for some reason, the Muslims are one by one selling their houses to people of another community, that is, to kafirs, and leaving. If this continues in this way, the mosque will become deserted.

Answer

(1) As for the permissibility of the sale, it is evident that the owner has the right to sell his property, and the sale will be valid by offer and acceptance (ijab and qabul) in the Shar‘i manner. However, in view of the delicacy of the circumstances, they should bear in mind not to do this without compulsion; in a state of compulsion even emigration (hijra) is established.

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

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