Back to search

Is it permissible to take palm offshoots that are naturally growing in the streets to plant them on private property, while replacing them with other palm trees in the street, or are they public property that cannot be owned or privately utilized?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

It is permissible to benefit from trees that have no owner, such as trees that grow on unowned land and whose benefit is not prohibited by the state. Whoever comes to them first and takes them, they belong to him, and he may benefit from them in any permissible way. Ibn Qudamah said: "Whoever comes first to market stalls and roadways, or water sources and visible and hidden mines, and everything permissible - such as grass, firewood, and fruits taken from mountains... and all other permissible things - whoever comes first to any of these, he has a greater right to them, and he does not need the permission of the Imam, nor the permission of anyone else; due to the saying of the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him: 'Whoever comes first to something that no Muslim has come to before, he has a greater right to it.'" It is stated in the Mejelle: "Everyone is permitted to benefit from permissible things, but it is conditioned on not harming the public" and "No one has the right to prevent another from taking and acquiring something permissible" and "Anyone may pick the fruit of trees in unowned mountains, valleys, and pastures." Al-Zuhayli mentioned that thickets (dense trees in forests or unowned land) are permissible properties if they are on unowned land, so everyone has the right to take possession of them, and no one has the right to prevent people from them. If a person takes possession of something from them and acquires it, it becomes his property.

Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026

Read the full answer on Ftawy