he would have restored them to their owners; for if land belonging to Muslims is seized by the unbelievers and we subsequently recover it, it is restored to its owner if he is identified before its division.

Fifth: The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, did not seize any of their property, whether movable or immovable, nor any of their children. Had he applied to Mecca the rulings governing other territories conquered by force, he would have taken their movable property and children as spoils. Rather, the correct view is that leasing its properties is prohibited because it is the land of the pilgrimage rites, which all Muslims share the right to use. As Allah Most High says:

“The resident and the visitor are equal therein.”

Its residents have priority over what they need because they were the first to occupy what is open to all, just as someone may be the first to occupy an available space in a mosque, on a road, or in a market. As for any space beyond their needs, they must make it freely available, since they are entitled to build only on this condition; the underlying plot is common property.

This is like someone who builds a room within a lodge, a school, or a similar institution: he has a particular right to reside in it, but no right to take payment for it. The same applies to someone who builds a house beside a road or within a frontier garrison, and to similar cases where the land is for shared use—for pilgrimage, jihad, passage along the roads, learning, worship, or the like.

If he says, “The building is mine,” he is told: “The plot is not yours, nor are the stones themselves; rather, what belongs to you is