—even if we imagined that the ruler had formally allotted it to him—when that tract is one the townspeople themselves need, he does not thereby acquire legal title. The ruler’s prerogative exists solely to serve the Muslims’ common welfare; he may not single out one person for benefits that belong to all. This issue is therefore extremely grave. When land values soared, people—Allah’s refuge is sought—began to trespass against one another: a man claims a plot that is not his, edging into his neighbour’s property and annexing part of it. The danger in this is enormous.
The jurists—let me quote something you may find astonishing—have declared: if a person builds a wall and then, by adding an extra coat of plaster (liyāṣah), extends that coating so that it encroaches by even a single centimetre onto his neighbour’s side, he is a wrongful usurper and will be punished by Allah on the Day of Resurrection. That is the level of precision our religion demands, yet—Allah’s refuge is sought—people today swallow miles or at least meters of land despite the stern warning that awaits them.
Consider the Companion Saʿīd ibn Zayd, may Allah be pleased with him. When he related this hadith to Marwān, the governor said, “I will no longer ask you for evidence,” for he knew Saʿīd could never take so much as a span of that woman’s land unjustly. As for the woman herself, Saʿīd supplicated: “O Allah, if she is lying, blind her sight and let her perish on her own land.” And what happened? Before she died Allah took away her sight, and one day, while she was walking across her property, she fell into a well and died; the well became her grave in the very land over which she had disputed with Saʿīd ibn Zayd.
This was a mark of honour from Allah to Saʿīd: He answered the prayer and allowed Saʿīd to witness it while still alive. We have already established that the supplication of one who is wronged is answered—even if the victim is an unbeliever—because Allah supports the oppressed against the oppressor. Allah is the Just Judge who neither wrongs nor permits anyone to wrong others, and He has stated unequivocally in the Noble Quran, “The wrongdoers shall never prosper.”