so the question of reviving these items is unlike the first case, for whoever revives any one of them becomes its owner.

Al-Iqnaʿ says: A person does not acquire, through revival, any land that lies close to inhabited property and is bound up with its interests—such as its roads, forecourt, public square, watercourse, refuse dump, soil-heaping site, grazing land, wood-collecting area, horse-training ground, cemeteries, camel resting places, lodgings set aside for travellers around water sources, the open grounds designated for the ʿEid prayer, and the like. Whatever is already owned may not have the land connected to its utilities revived.

The basis for reviving wasteland is the Sunnah and unanimous agreement.

The Sunnah consists of the hadiths cited in this chapter and others like them.

As for consensus, the vizier Ibn Hubayrah reports agreement on the permissibility of reviving ordinary dead land. Ibn ʿAbd al-Barr similarly stated: the scholars unanimously agree that anything known to be under an owner’s title may not be revived by anyone other than its rightful proprietors.

Sharh al-Iqnaʿ adds: Reviving dead land is achieved by enclosing it with a solid barrier and erecting upon it what is customarily built in that locality—whether of bricks, reeds, timber, or the like—regardless of whether one intends it for construction, cultivation, a sheepfold, a timber yard, or similar purposes. Roofing it or hanging a door is not required, and so on.

According to a report from Ahmad, reviving land is whatever people deem revival, for the Prophet ﷺ said, “Whoever revives dead land, it belongs to him.” ⦗Abu Dawud 3074⦘.

This view was favored by Ibn ʿAqīl, al-Muwaffaq, and others, because the Law made ownership contingent upon revival without defining its form; consequently, one must defer to what common usage regards as revival. Allah knows best.