It is forbidden for him to grant it to someone out of favoritism—for example, when someone more deserving and more capable of reclaiming the land has already come forward, yet he grants it to this man because he is a relative, a person of influence, or the like.

It is understood from his statement, “the granting of uncultivated land,” that he has no right to grant land subject to established public-use rights. Uncultivated land is land free of such rights and of inviolable ownership. Accordingly, the imam may not grant the valleys or roads of a town, or anything similar, because they are subject to public-use rights even though they are not privately owned. Nor may he grant the town’s pastures or its firewood-gathering areas—that is, places where firewood is collected and the like—because these are subject to public-use rights and are not uncultivated land.

His statement, “and the imam”: whoever acts in the imam’s capacity is likewise included, because at the present time the imam does not undertake this himself; rather, it is handled by ministers, agents, or the like. Therefore, the matter is referred to the system of government. If, in a given state, the supreme ruler is responsible for such grants, then it is the supreme ruler; and if it is his deputies, then it is his deputies.

His statement, “but he does not own it”: the conjunction here introduces a new statement, and the pronoun refers to the grantee. That is, the grantee does not own it, but he has a greater right to it than anyone else, such that no one else may reclaim it, because the Prophet ﷺ said: “Whoever reclaims dead land, it belongs to him” (1). Thus, he made reclamation the basis of the ruling.

It was also said that he acquires ownership through the imam’s grant, because the imam’s granting it to him is a conveyance of ownership, based on