The correct view, however, is that its residential properties may be sold but may not be rented out. This is what the reports transmitted on this matter from the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and the Companions, may Allah be pleased with them, indicate. The Companions used to buy and sell its houses, and these houses could be inherited and given as gifts. Whatever may be inherited and given as a gift may also be sold, unlike an endowed property, which may neither be sold, inherited, nor given away. Likewise, those who prohibit selling an umm al-walad—a slave woman who has borne her master a child—also prohibit giving her away or passing her on by inheritance.
As for renting out these houses, they were known as al-sawā’ib (houses freely available for lodging) during the time of the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and of Abū Bakr and ʿUmar, may Allah be pleased with them both. Whoever needed accommodation lived in them, and whoever had no need of them accommodated others. This is because all Muslims need their use. They thus resemble markets, mosques, and roads, whose use Muslims need: whoever first occupies a place has the greater right to it, while whatever he no longer needs may be used by someone else without payment. The same applies to resources freely available for everyone’s use.
What the purchaser of such a house acquires through his purchase is priority over others for as long as he needs it. When a person sells it, he relinquishes his exclusive right to it, his right to pass it on by inheritance, and his other rights of disposal. He may therefore refuse to relinquish it except in return for compensation.
The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, granted clemency to the people of Mecca, for a captive may be released without ransom when this serves a legitimate interest. He also left them their offspring and property, just as, when Hawāzin came to him as Muslims, he graciously granted them one of the two categories: the captives or the property. They chose the captives, so he gave them the captives. This was after the distribution of the spoils