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Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books A Brief of Islamic Law Usurpation (ghasb) Usurpation means that a person unjustly seizes the property or right of another person. This is one of the major sins according to the wisdom, traditions and the holy Qur'an. It has been reported from the Holy Prophet (s.a.w.a.) that, whoever usurps one span of another's land, seven layers of that land will be put round his neck like a yoke on the Day of Judgement.

If a person does not allow the people to benefir from a mosque, a school, a pidge and other places which have been constructed for the use of the public, he usurps their right. Similar is the case when a person reserves a place in the mosque for himself, but another person drives that person out from that place and does not allow him to use it, in which case the latter person commits a sin.

If a person usurps a property, he should return it to its owner, and if it is lost while it has a price, he should compensate him for it, as will be explained later. If some benefit accrues from a thing which has been usurped, for example, if a lamb is born of a sheep which has been usurped, it belongs to the owner. Moreover, if, for example, a person has usurped a house, he should pay its rent even if he does not live in it.

If a person usurps a piece of land and cultivates or plants trees on it, the crop and the trees and their fruits are his own property, and if the owner of the land is not agreeable to the crops and the trees remaining on his land, the person who has usurped the land, should pull them out immediately even if he may suffer loss for that.

Aiso, he should pay rent to the owner of the land for the period the crop and the trees remained on his land, and should also make up for the damage done to the land, like, he should fill up the holes from which the trees are pulled out. And if the value of land decreases because of that, he should compensate. Moreover, he cannot compel the owner of the land to sell it or lease it out to him nor can the owner of the land comple him to sell the trees or crops to him.

If a thing usurped by a person perishes and if it is like a cow or a sheep, which has not much peers similar to it in characteristics affecting the demands, the usurper should pay its price; and if its market value has undergone a change on the grounds of demand and supply, he should pay the cost which was at the time it perished.