(Part No. 16; Page No. 134)  Fatwa no. 19425 All praise be to Allah Alone, and peace and blessings be upon His Messenger, and his family and Companions.The Permanent Committee for Scholarly Research and Ifta' has read the letter that was sent to His Eminence the Mufty by His Eminence the Judge of Badr court under Number 114, dated 18/01/1418 A. H. The concerned letter was transferred to the Committee by the secretariat-general of the Council of Senior Scholars under Number 509, dated 25/01/1418 A. H. The letter reads as follows:I would like to inform Your Eminence that the big Jami` Masjid (a large mosque where Jumu`ah [Friday] Prayers are held) in Badr needs to be reconstructed and expanded and that we appealed to Your Eminence to provide support. However, this letter is to inform you that there is a neighboring land to the western side of the Masjid that belongs to the Waqfs (endowments) of Al-Ashraf (descendants of the Prophet). The land in question is occupied by six stores which are rented for different citizens. The rent of each store is thirty five thousand riyals per year. Any way, the wording of the Waqf paper is: "We permanently endow, confine, and give as Sadaqah (voluntary charity) the whole land which is mentioned above to the people of `Ubayd amongst Al-Ashraf of Badr; the males and females thereof and their successive generations etc."The point is that we referred to the supervisor of the Waqf and he ceded this land for the sake of the expansion (Part No. 16; Page No. 135) of the Masjid. This land is of small area roughly no more than 9 × 25 meter longitudinally. It may be worthy mentioning that one part of the existent Masjid is built on the land of Al-Ashraf i.e. the Waqf mentioned above. I hope that Your Eminence provide me with your beneficial answer: Is it valid and Shar`y (Islamically acceptable) that the supervisor of the Waqf cedes the land for the sake of the expansion of the Masjid or that all the beneficiaries should approve of it firstly? It is noteworthy that it is difficult to fulfill the foregoing prerequisite because of the great number of beneficiaries who are of different ages and genders and some of them are abroad. Provide us with the answer as soon as possible please. As-salamu `alaykum warahmatullah wabarakatuh (May Allah's Peace, Mercy, and Blessings be upon you!)

After the Committee had studied the question and read the copy of the attached Waqf deed, it answered: It is impermissible for the supervisor of the Waqf which is mentioned in the question and for all other beneficiaries to cede any part of the Waqf land for the mentioned Masjid or for any other purpose or person. This is because the concerned land is endowed to specific persons and it should remain confined equally to them. Such persons are Al-Ashraf of Badr amongst the people of `Ubayd; their males and females and the successive generations thereof etc. The cession of the supervisor of the Waqf or the approval of other beneficiaries does not render the cession valid for Waqf is a fixed contract that can not be sold, gifted, or inherited and one is not permitted to dispose of it except in accordance to what the endower stipulated. (Part No. 16; Page No. 136) May Allah grant us success. May peace and blessings be upon our Prophet Muhammad, his family, and Companions.