Is the Food Given to a Teacher Permission (Ibaha) or Transfer of Ownership (Tamlik)?

Question

Here at the madrasa, along with the salary, there is also an arrangement for meals and breakfast. The villagers provide the food by turns. If it is little, no demand is made; if it is much, it is not returned. This is the custom. If there is a traveller, he eats along, and no one objects. If the food is fed to some person of the village, there is objection, but people do not say anything openly.

Answer

Since the food has been sent to the teacher, and he also has the option to let any guest or traveller he wishes share with him, and the food that is left over is not returned, and moreover the arrangement for food is made together with the salary, all these are indications that this food is given to him as ownership (tamlikan), not as permission (ibahatan).

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

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