Jami' at-Tirmidhi
Jami` at-Tirmidhi 1378
حَدَّثَنَا مُحَمَّدُ بْنُ بَشَّارٍ، أَخْبَرَنَا عَبْدُ الْوَهَّابِ الثَّقَفِيُّ، أَخْبَرَنَا أَيُّوبُ، عَنْ هِشَامِ بْنِ عُرْوَةَ، عَنْ أَبِيهِ، عَنْ سَعِيدِ بْنِ زَيْدٍ، عَنِ النَّبِيِّ صلى الله عليه وسلم قَالَ " مَنْ أَحْيَى أَرْضًا مَيِّتَةً فَهِيَ لَهُ وَلَيْسَ لِعِرْقِ ظَالِمٍ حَقٌّ " . قَالَ أَبُو عِيسَى هَذَا حَدِيثٌ حَسَنٌ غَرِيبٌ . وَقَدْ رَوَاهُ بَعْضُهُمْ عَنْ هِشَامِ بْنِ عُرْوَةَ عَنْ أَبِيهِ عَنِ النَّبِيِّ صلى الله عليه وسلم مُرْسَلاً . وَالْعَمَلُ عَلَى هَذَا الْحَدِيثِ عِنْدَ بَعْضِ أَهْلِ الْعِلْمِ وَهُوَ قَوْلُ أَحْمَدَ وَإِسْحَاقَ قَالُوا لَهُ أَنْ يُحْيِيَ الأَرْضَ الْمَوَاتَ بِغَيْرِ إِذْنِ السُّلْطَانِ . وَقَدْ قَالَ بَعْضُهُمْ لَيْسَ لَهُ أَنْ يُحْيِيَهَا إِلاَّ بِإِذْنِ السُّلْطَانِ . وَالْقَوْلُ الأَوَّلُ أَصَحُّ . قَالَ وَفِي الْبَابِ عَنْ جَابِرٍ وَعَمْرِو بْنِ عَوْفٍ الْمُزَنِيِّ جَدِّ كَثِيرٍ وَسَمُرَةَ . حَدَّثَنَا أَبُو مُوسَى مُحَمَّدُ بْنُ الْمُثَنَّى قَالَ سَأَلْتُ أَبَا الْوَلِيدِ الطَّيَالِسِيَّ عَنْ قَوْلِهِ " وَلَيْسَ لِعِرْقِ ظَالِمٍ حَقٌّ " . فَقَالَ الْعِرْقُ الظَّالِمُ الْغَاصِبُ الَّذِي يَأْخُذُ مَا لَيْسَ لَهُ . قُلْتُ هُوَ الرَّجُلُ الَّذِي يَغْرِسُ فِي أَرْضِ غَيْرِهِ قَالَ هُوَ ذَاكَ .
Unreviewed translation. All hadiths in this collection are available in five languages. Titles and introductions may remain in Arabic.
Saʿīd ibn Zayd reported that the Prophet said: “Whoever revives barren land, it belongs to him, and an unjust claimant has no right to it.” Abū ʿĪsā said: This is a ḥasan gharīb hadith. Some narrators transmitted it from Hishām ibn ʿUrwah, from his father, from the Prophet as a mursal report. Aḥmad and Isḥāq held that barren land may be revived without the ruler’s permission; others said it may be revived only with permission. The first view is sounder. Reports on this subject are also narrated from Jābir, ʿAmr ibn ʿAwf al-Muzanī, and Samurah. Abū al-Walīd al-Ṭayālisī explained “an unjust claimant” as a usurper who takes what is not his. When asked whether this meant someone planting on another person’s land, he replied: “That is what it means.”
Notes and open questions — unreviewed
The report concerns reviving uncultivated land and denies a right acquired through wrongful occupation.