What is the landowner's share of the gold extracted from his land, after you have covered the expenses of its extraction, given that he was unaware of this?
Jurists have differed concerning minerals found in privately owned land: do they belong to the land and become the property of its owner, or do they belong to all Muslims and the Imam disposes of them? The majority of scholars hold that minerals are subservient to the land and are owned through its ownership.
If the mineral is found in land not owned by its discoverer, the majority opinion is that it belongs to the owner of the land and not to the individual who found it.
Based on this, the gold you found in the ground belongs to the owner of the land. You must return it to him and inform him of what occurred. You are entitled to a customary wage for purifying and extracting the gold. It is advisable to inform the landowner of the gold's presence and cooperate with him in its extraction.
Summary from Ftawy's records · added here
Reviewed by El Fatwa's sharia committee.
Read the full answer on Ftawyhttps://ftawy.com/en/questions/86954
Where this answer came from
- Source platform
- Ftawy
- Original fatwa ID
- 86954
- Added here
- . This is when the answer was added to El Fatwa, not the fatwa's date.
- Text
- Summary from Ftawy's records, reviewed by El Fatwa's sharia committee.
- Read the full ruling
- Read the full answer on Ftawy