he was actually offered.”
Allah threatened this man with punishment for withholding the surplus of what his own hands had not produced. Herbage that grows without a person’s intervention is likewise not produced by his hands. The well-known position in al-Shāfiʿī’s school permits its sale. This is also the well-known position in Mālik’s school regarding land that its owner customarily uses. As for uncultivated land that he does not till, Mālik’s followers differ: Ibn al-Qāsim permitted this, while others prohibited it. If, however, its owner deliberately leaves it unsown so that herbage will grow there, selling such herbage is less objectionable than selling other herbage, since this amounts to cultivating it.
He also said in another response:
As for his words:
“People share in three things: water, herbage, and fire.”
This is a well-known hadith reported by the compilers of the Sunan. Muslims agree that herbage growing on land open to common use is shared by all, and whoever reaches it first has the greater right to it. As for herbage growing on privately owned land, if the landowner needs it, he has the greater right to it. If he has no need of it, scholars hold two well-known views. Most permit taking it without payment, on the basis of this hadith, and permit grazing animals on it without payment.