on it, with the remainder going to the beneficiary. If it produces no income—for example, if it is a slave who can no longer work or an animal that has become emaciated—the beneficiary may choose either to maintain it, since he is its owner, or to sell it and spend the proceeds on a replacement of the same kind. If it is endowed for the poor, its maintenance is paid from the public treasury, since no particular person owns it; it is therefore like a mosque. … (1)

If the ruler considers it appropriate to sell it and spend the proceeds on a replacement of the same kind, this is permissible. If the endowed property is a house that falls into ruin and can no longer be used, it is sold, and its proceeds are used to purchase another house, which is made an endowment in its place. Likewise, when an endowed horse becomes old and unserviceable, it is sold, and its proceeds are used to purchase a horse suitable for the purpose for which it was endowed.

He said in the report transmitted by Bakr ibn Muhammad:

‘If its proceeds suffice to purchase a horse, one is purchased and made an endowment; otherwise, the proceeds are put toward the purchase of an animal to be endowed.’

Likewise, if a mosque falls into ruin and stands in a location where no one prays, it may be relocated to an inhabited place, and its site may be sold. He explicitly stated this in the report transmitted by ‘Abd Allāh.

Abū Bakr said:

‘The ruler is responsible for having this witnessed.’

He continued: Abū Bakr also said in Kitāb al-Qawlayn:

‘‘Alī ibn Sa‘īd transmitted that mosques are not to be sold, but are to be relocated.’

Abū Bakr said:

‘I adopt the first view’—meaning the report transmitted by ‘Abd Allāh—because they unanimously agree that an endowed horse may be sold.

Ahmad also said, in the report transmitted by al-Hasan ibn Thawāb, concerning a slave belonging to a man in Mecca—meaning a slave held as an endowment—who refused to work: