serve as a dowry may also serve as a price or rent. Whatever may be given as a price may also be sold. This is therefore a matter that deserves careful consideration.

There remains the question of a Muslim acquiring it: is this disliked because of the humiliation it entails, or because farming distracts him from jihad? These are separate considerations, unrelated to its status as an endowment, and their rulings vary according to circumstances and the interests served. For example:

“The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, made an agreement with the Jews concerning Khaybar because the Muslims were few. When the Muslims became numerous, Umar expelled them in accordance with the Prophet’s command, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and the Muslims began cultivating it.”

Likewise, when Muslims become numerous, their taking possession of land subject to kharāj and paying its kharāj is more beneficial to them than remaining poor and needy while the disbelievers derive income from the land in return for a small kharāj payment. In Umar’s time, the Muslims were few, while the non-Muslims under Muslim protection were numerous. The situation may be reversed.

Moreover, the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, made an agreement with them concerning Khaybar, but the Muslims subsequently cultivated it themselves once they became numerous and suffered harm from the continued presence of non-Muslims under Muslim protection in the land of the Arabs. The underlying considerations were thus the harm their presence caused the Muslims and the Muslims’ ability to meet their needs through one another.

How much more so, then, if Muslims need land subject to kharāj and suffer harm from its remaining in the hands of non-Muslims under Muslim protection, so that a Muslim in need decides to compensate its non-Muslim holder and take his place on it? If the payment constitutes rent, the Muslim has a greater right to lease and cultivate the Muslims’ land; and if it constitutes a purchase price, he has a greater right to buy it