He—may Allah have mercy on him—was asked:

A group of people had their wealth confiscated and were then coerced and compelled to sell assets consisting of real estate, livestock, and orchards. They sold them, although some belonged to the sellers’ children, some were charitable endowments, and some belonged to other people. The purchaser took possession of these assets. The sellers feared for their physical integrity but were unable to recover them from him. They therefore nominally repurchased them, to ascertain their continued existence and safeguard them, for a specified price payable on a fixed date. When payment fell due, he demanded the price from them.

Is their sale invalid because of coercion and because it involved selling property belonging to others, or not? Does their purchase from him, together with their acknowledgment of his ownership, establish his valid ownership?

He replied:

If, in these circumstances, the seller offers to reimburse the purchaser for the price he paid, but the purchaser refuses to settle on that basis and demands the deferred price recorded as payable by the seller, then the purchaser is a wrongdoer and a sinner who deserves punishment. For even if the seller had willingly consented to this transaction, and the two had agreed that the assets were not to be sold to him by means of his first selling them on deferred payment for more than that