What is the procedure for a buyer who purchases food from a usurped location and later discovers the usurpation?

General Chapter

Al-Mughni

Book of Usurpation

Book 22 · Issue 4 · Bab 1

Open in Qurani

Primary text

If a person purchases food from a usurped location and subsequently discovers the situation, the buyer must return to the place from which the item was taken and return it. Alternatively, it is narrated that he must cast it away, meaning returning it to the seller. This obligation exists because remaining at that location is illicit and forbidden, rendering the sale itself illicit. Abstaining from purchasing from those who occupy the forbidden space prevents them from continuing their actions.

Supporting text

Purchasing from shops situated in usurped caravanserais (khānāt) on roads is disliked unless no other option is available, placing the buyer in a state of necessity. Similarly, purchasing from a house built by a ruling authority (Sultan) to which people are drawn is disliked, on the basis of avoiding assistance in a forbidden act. However, the underlying sale is likely valid because if prayer in a usurped dwelling is valid in one narration, then commerce, which is not an act of worship, should be more valid.