769 – Rāfiʿ ibn Khadīj (may Allah be pleased with him) reported that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: “Whoever plants in another people’s land without their permission has no right to the crop; he is only entitled to the expenses he incurred.” It was narrated by Aḥmad and the Four compilers except al-Nasāʾī, and al-Tirmidhī declared it ḥasan. It is also said that al-Bukhārī considered it weak. (1)

Hadith grading:
The report is ḥasan.
Ibn Ḥajar states in al-Talkhīṣ: “Abū Dāwūd and al-Tirmidhī transmitted it with a chain traced back to the Prophet through Rāfiʿ ibn Khadīj. Al-Tirmidhī judged it ḥasan because of corroborating reports; otherwise its isnād is weak on account of some transmitters and because it is interrupted between ʿAṭāʾ ibn Abī Rabāḥ and Rāfiʿ ibn Khadīj.”

Al-Tirmidhī further commented: “A ḥasan gharīb hadith.”

Yet it possesses supporting lines of transmission that strengthen it, among them the following:
From Abū Jaʿfar al-Khaṭmī, from Saʿīd ibn al-Musayyib, who said: “Ibn ʿUmar held no settled view on the matter until news reached him from Rāfiʿ ibn Khadīj that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ saw a crop growing in land owned by Zuhayr ibn Rāfiʿ and admired it. He asked, ‘How splendid this crop is!’ They replied, ‘It does not belong to Zuhayr; it is So-and-so’s.’ He said, ‘Then take your crop and reimburse him for his expenditure.’”

This chain is ṣaḥīḥ, free of defect, and stands as a powerful corroboration of the hadith narrated by Shurayk. Al-Tirmidhī graded it ḥasan and attributed the same grading to al-Bukhārī. Allah knows best.

Scholarly disagreement:
The jurists have differed over the ruling concerning a person who seizes land and cultivates it.