His statement, “even if it is prolonged,” indicates that there is a difference of opinion. Some scholars say that he should be given a respite of two or three days, or a week, after which he is told: “Remove your hand.” For if he remains there for a long time, he becomes like an owner; consequently, it becomes difficult for anyone else to benefit from it. His cloth may remain there while he himself does not come, thereby preventing others from benefiting from that place while he himself does not benefit from it.

Others say: As long as the man needs this place, he has the greater right to it, even if he remains there for a long time, based on the Prophet’s statement: “Whoever gets to something before anyone else has got to it has the greater right to it” (1). The correct view is that this is left to the judgement of the authority: if he considers it in the public interest for him to remain, there is no objection; but if he considers it in the public interest to remove him, then he should remove him.

But if this place is seasonal and the season ends, do we say that this man retains this place during the next season? Or do we say that, in the next season, whoever first occupies a place has the greater right to it?

The answer is the latter, because the season has ended. Thus, if we suppose that there is a season in this place during Eid al-Fitr, and that season ends and the season of Eid al-Adha arrives, we do not say to the one who occupied a place during the Eid al-Fitr season: “You have the greater right to it during the Eid al-Adha season,” because the season has ended.

If it is established by regulation that whoever sets up a stall must leave it at the end of the day—as is the case in some marketplaces—so that a person remains in that place only throughout the day, while at night all the goods are removed, then what do we do on the following day? Do we say: We begin anew