His statement, “Nor that which grows on his land,” indicates that whatever a person causes to grow on his land may be sold. Thus, if he plants date palms or other trees, or sows crops, they belong to him and he may sell them.

As for crops and trees that grow on his land, there are different rulings concerning their sale:

First: if he himself caused them to grow, they are his property and may be sold. Crops, however, must have ripened, as will come later, Allah willing.

Second: if they are from Allah, without any action on his part that caused them to grow, then their sale is not permissible, because people share in them. This is the first view (1).

The second view is that if he caused them to grow, they belong to him and may be sold; otherwise, they may not be sold. This was the view preferred by Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah. Causing them to grow means that he tills the land so that it is ready for vegetation when rain falls, or that he leaves the land untended—not tilling it for his own crops—while awaiting the pasture and grass that will grow upon it. For he now has the choice either to till the land, in which case nothing will grow except what he himself sows.

This is closest to what is correct, just as we said concerning water reservoirs that a person prepares to receive water: once the water comes and collects in them, it becomes his property.

The third view is that he may sell it, and that the statement, “People share in three things” (2), applies to land that is not privately owned. As for privately owned land, then