Selling a land to be used as a place of idol worship

10-1-2011 | IslamWeb

Question:

Assalam alaikum, I put a plot of land on sale in India, a group of Hindu people in the area are asking me to sell the plot to them for the puspose of building a place of worship of idols. they are already worshiping a tree came up outside boundary of my plot, they are ready to pay market price for the plot, is it right to sell the plot to them in the light of shariah. jazakallah
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 ( may Allaah exalt his mention ) is His slave and Messenger.

It is forbidden for you to sell your land to those people as you know that they will use it to build a place of idol worship. Ibn Muflih may Allaah have mercy upon him said: “If a person sells or rents his house to a non-Muslim, then Al-Marwathi may Allaah have mercy upon him reported from Imaam Ahmad that it should not be sold (to him), as the bell will be tolled in it and the crosses will be erected in it, and he considered this matter [this sort of selling] as a very serious matter and he absolutely forbade it. Moreover, Al-Qaadi (Abu Yaa’la) may Allaah have mercy upon him said: 'It is not permissible for a Muslim to rent his house for someone who would use it as a Zoroastrian temple or a church.'”

Besides, the Fiqh Encyclopedia reads: “The majority of the jurists may Allaah have mercy upon them stated that a Muslim is forbidden from selling a land or a house that will be used as a church.”

For more benefit, please refer to Fatwa 85602.

Allaah Knows best.

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