then if the portion reclaimed amounts to half the land or to any other part of real consequence, she may return the whole of it—just as in the case of sales—and take its full value. If the reclaimed share is minor, she is entitled only to the corresponding fraction of its value. The same ruling applies to all other divisible movables.
As for a male or female slave, whenever any portion of either—whether large or small—is reclaimed, she may return the slave and receive the entire value, because joint ownership of a person is inherently harmful. This is so whether the reclamation occurs before the marriage has been consummated or afterward.
Whoever develops a piece of land under a mistaken assumption that absolves him of willful usurpation—for example, he thinks it is dead, unclaimed land (mawāt) and therefore builds on it—then someone establishes his ownership, that owner may take the land with its improvements provided he pays the builder the value of those improvements and buildings. If the owner cannot or will not pay, the builder is told, “Give him the value of his land in its unimproved, unbuilt state.” Should the builder likewise be unable or refuse, the two become partners in the land, the buildings, and the improvements, each holding a share proportionate to the value of the land alone or to the value of the improvements and buildings alone.
If a person erects buildings on someone else’s land without permission and the owners later prove their title, they may not repossess the land unless they pay him the value of his buildings reduced to rubble on the site. If they choose to do so, fine; otherwise they must leave him to choose between leaving the structure intact or dismantling it and taking away the materials, for he is not obliged to accept anything from which he gains no benefit. He may not fill in a well, but he may remove its lining provided he guarantees any damage he causes.
Whoever buys a house that is subsequently reclaimed after he has already drawn income from it or resided in it is not obliged to return the income he earned nor to pay rent for his period of residence. This is the meaning of the Prophet’s ﷺ saying: “Benefit and produce belong to the one who bears liability.”
And whoever plants a crop in land that is then reclaimed—