concept of ownership and possession in Islam

Preface
•Ownership is very important concept in Islamic legal system
•It relates to man’s worldly desires and his relations with an another’s
•Islamic law providing different modes of acquiring and loosing of ownership
•Ownership is basically a right of possession something and property may be land or other than this
2) Meaning of ownership
•Right of possessing something
3) definition of Ownership
•Ownership is a relationship between a person and thing and it is the absolute control and right of
decision over thing as well as it is a power of Exclusion of others
4) Elements in Ownership
•In ownership essential elements are presence of “CONTROL” and “EXLUSION OF OTHER” the person
who has such powers is called Owner
5) Subject matter of Ownership
•Mal is the subject matter of Ownership
1) Meaning of Mal by Al-Hawi
•Mal is thing which is other than human being and have been created for benefit of Man and
Which man can store or utilize on his own will
2) Things which are including in Mal
A Mal may include following things
I. Things having a corpus
•All things which are touchable included in Mal
II. Things connected with corpus
•Things connected with corpus also included in Mal
•Such as Munafah it either in shape of PRODUCTION OF PHYSICAL OBJECT or SERVICES OF ME
3) Modern concept of Mal
•In traditional Islamic legal system, mal not included incorporeal ( rights like copyrights etc
•In modern Islamic law now courts and jurists are trying to expand the concept of Mal
4) Classification of Mal
Concept of Mal has been classified as under
1. Moveable and immoveable Immoveable things are those things which cannot be move from one place to another
place such as land and buildings etc. Moveable things are those things which can be moved from one place to another
2. Similars and dissimilars If alternate can be found by weight or measure is called Similar If alternate can’t be found in market is called Dissimilar
3. Marketable and non-marketable Marketable things which can be converted to private Property such as currency, car, etc Non-Marketable which can’t be converted to Private property like air, sunshine, etc.
Non-Marketable thing are not regarded as Mal
4. Consumable and non-Consumable Consumable things like food, water etc. Non-Consumable things like house, Gold etc.
6) Modes of Acquiring Ownership
Following are the modes of acquisition of ownership. Details are as under.
1. Original acquisition
•Original acquisition means an acquisition of a property or estate which has never been the
property of another. This is original acquisition because such things may have not been used
commonly by someone before this. Such acquisition is called original acquisition
2. By Transfer
•Transfer of ownership is frequent mode of acquisition and ownership of a property is
transferred from one person to another. It only can be possible only by contract in form of sale,
gift etc.
3. By Succession
•It belongs to the family Law and after someone’s death property passes to his legal heirs and
they become owner by succession
4. By Prescription
•It belongs to property Law. It means continued occupation by someone over a thing from a long
period
•In Islamic legal system such kind of Ownership can’t be acquired by prescription
•But In modern age in English system, such acquisition is allowed and can be acquired which is
illegal exercise
7) Modes of Loosing Ownership
Following are the modes of loosing ownership
1. By transfer
•An act of transfer can cause loosing ownership. Original owner transfer his things to another
person by mean of contract like sale,gift,waqf etc. Similarly ownership passed one to another
2. By destruction of thing
•In case of destruction of thing owner can lose ownership upon his property
3. By Death of Owner
•After the death of owner, ownership ends.Right on that thing transfers to his legal heirs
4. By Operation of Law
•By operation of Law, Ownership comes to an end and it can be by way of transfer, sale, as well
as seizure of property by the court of law
8) Ownership in Islam as compared to that of English Law
•According to Islamic system, ownership on liberties, powers, properties can’t be acquired
•According to English System, above rights or ownership can be occupied by different rules
9) Preclude Statements
•Every human being has right to make property
•Islam forbids to acquire other’s property by means of fraud or by doing illegal act
•But property can be transfer by an act of transfer with the consent of ownership without making
undue influence
•Property can be acquired by operation of Law

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