Sale is invalid without mutual consent of buyer and seller

3-1-2018 | IslamWeb

Question:

Assalaamu alaykum. We used to grow crops on the land of landlords as labourers. In the meantime, the government issued an order that the labouers who used to grow crops shall pay a minimal amount to landlords and shall become owners of that land. This order was against the will of landlords. I want to know whether this land is halal for us or not. May Allah reward you.

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Answer:

All perfect praise be to Allah, the Lord of the worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allah and that Muhammad, sallallahu ʻalayhi wa sallam, is His slave and Messenger.

This land does not become halal for you by paying some money to the landlords without their consent to sell it to you. The government has no right to force the landlords to sell their land against their will; a sale is invalid unless there is mutual consent between the two parties.

The Kuwaiti Encyclopedia of Fiqh reads, “Muslim jurists unanimously agreed that mutual consent is the basis of all contracts. Allah, the Exalted, says (what means): {O you who have believed, do not consume one another's wealth unjustly but only (in lawful) business by mutual consent.} [Quran 4:29]

The Prophet, sallallahu ʻalayhi wa sallam, said, “Transactions may only be done by mutual consent.”

Allah knows best.