And the sale of endowed property is prohibited only to prevent the rights of its beneficiaries from being extinguished. With such land, however, all agree that one holder may replace another, whether through an exchange for compensation or otherwise.

The point here is that an endowment combines features of emancipation and the transfer of ownership. Hence jurists hold two well-known views concerning an endowment for a specified individual: does it require his acceptance, like a gift, or does it require no acceptance, like emancipation? This differs from an endowment for a public purpose, such as mosques. An endowment for a specified individual more closely resembles a transfer of ownership than an endowment of mosques or other endowments for public purposes. Endowing mosques more closely resembles emancipation than do other endowments, for mosques are devoted exclusively to Allah, Mighty and Majestic. As He, the Exalted, says:

“And the mosques belong to Allah, so do not invoke anyone alongside Allah.”

He, the Exalted, also says:

“It is not for the polytheists to maintain the mosques of Allah while bearing witness against themselves to disbelief. Their deeds have come to nothing, and they will abide in the Fire forever.”

“The mosques of Allah are maintained only by those who believe in Allah and the Last Day, establish prayer, give zakah, and fear none but Allah. It is they who may be expected to be rightly guided.”

Mosques are the houses of Allah, just as an emancipated slave becomes free—that is, devoted exclusively to Allah. Tahrīr (emancipation) means release from bondage; the same root occurs in tīn hurr, meaning pure clay. Emancipation thus means freeing the slave exclusively for Allah.

For this reason, the Lawgiver prohibited making part of one’s slave free while leaving the rest enslaved, saying:

“Allah has no partner.”

Thus, if someone emancipates part of his slave, the slave becomes wholly free. In the two Sahīh collections, Ibn Umar reports that the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said:

“Whoever emancipates his share in a slave, and has sufficient wealth to cover the slave’s price, must have the slave fairly valued and pay his co-owners their shares; the slave is then freed in full at his expense.”

Likewise,