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

About a village that Sultan Saladin had made an endowment, assigning its revenue to a named individual, then to his children after him, and assigning one-half and one-quarter to the poor. This arrangement continued while the village remained prosperous. In the year of Ghāzān’s incursion, however, the village was devastated and remained derelict for eight years. Then one of the shaykhs obtained a sultanic decree authorizing him to restore the village, and he restored it. He subsequently passed away to Allah’s mercy, leaving young, impoverished orphans who had no wealth.

A woman descended from the beneficiary entitled to the revenue then established her lineage and took possession of the village’s revenue. The half and the quarter continued to go to the poor, in accordance with the founder’s stipulation, while the children of the man who had restored the village remained poor. May they receive enough to meet their needs as part of the general body of poor beneficiaries? Or are they entitled to reimbursement for what their father spent restoring it, insofar as he had not been reimbursed before his death?

He answered:

If they fall within the founder’s stipulated conditions, they are entitled to whatever those conditions provide. If it were impossible to disburse the funds to those possessing the specified qualifications because some of those qualifications could not be met, and these children shared in the entitlement of those to whom the funds are disbursed, then it would be appropriate