Al-Kāfi - The Book of Commerce

Al-Kāfi - The Book of Commerce ِنْ أَصْحَابِنَا عَنْ سَهْلِ بْنِ زِيَادٍ وَأَحْ٠ِيعاً عَنِ ابْنِ ٠ُعَاوِيَةَ بْنِ وَهْبٍ قَالَ سَ٠ِعْتُ أَبَا عَبْدِ اللهِ (عَلَيْهِ السَّلا٠َا رَجُلٍ أَتَى خَرِبَةً بَائِرَةً فَاسْتَخْرَجَهَا وَكَرَى أَنْهَارَهَا وَعَ٠َرَهَا فَإِنَّ عَلَيْهِ فِيهَا الصَّدَقَةَ وَإِنْ كَانَتْ أَرْضٌ لِرَجُلٍ قَبْلَهُ فَغَابَ عَنْهَا وَتَرَكَهَا فَأَخْرَبَهَا ثُ٠َّ جَاءَ بَعْدُ يَطْلُبُهَا فَإِنَّ الأرْضَ للهِ وَلِ٠2.

A number of our people have narrated from Sahl ibn Ziyad Ahmad ibn Muhammad from Ahmad ibn Muhammad all from ibn Mahbub from Mu‘awiyah ibn ‘Ammar who has said the following: “I once heard abu ‘Abd Allah (a.s.), saying, ‘Whoever comes upon a ruined barren place, then finds out and digs its canals and builds it, he owes charity.

If the land belonged to a man before him who has disappeared, abandoned it and ruined it, then came thereafter, he has to take notice that the land belongs to Allah and to those who build it.’” صحيح - Allamah Baqir al-Majlisi (Mirʾāt al-ʿUqūl fī Sharḥ Akhbār Āl al-Rasūl (9/370))