Perform ‘Eed prayer on a piece of land that could be usurped

1-12-2014 | IslamWeb

Question:

Assalamualaykum. Is it admissible to observe Namaz Eid at govt stadium playground. As the land was taken by govt. from local awqaf body on conditional bases, but till date none of conditions were fulfiled.

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Answer:

All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, is His slave and Messenger.

We would not be able to issue a Fatwa concerning this unless we investigated these conditions and whether the non-fulfillment of them is effective in such a way that the property of the playground is thereby effectively a usurped property so that it would be said that it is not permissible to pray on it; or whether the non-fulfillment of the conditions is not effective so; it is permissible to pray on it.

If it is proven that this stadium playground is a usurped piece of land, then it is inadmissible to perform prayer on it. An-Nawawi said in Al-Majmoo‘: "There is scholarly consensus that praying on usurped land is prohibited. However, it (the prayer) is valid according to our School of Fiqh (the Shaafi'i School), the majority of Muslim jurists, and the scholars of Usool Al-Fiqh (Principles of Islamic Jurisprudence). Ahmad ibn Hanbal and Al-Jubbaa’i, and others from the Mu'tazilah (Mu‘tazilites) held that prayer on usurped land is invalid.”

Allaah Knows best.