Rules of Endowment 49item Can a five-century-old endowment deed be relied on as a proof of the property held in trust? There are lands adjacent to the Holy shrine of Imam Riḍā (a.s.) that are held in trust. There is also in the sanctuaries of this property grazing patches and forests. Some official departments issued an order rendering the grazing patches and forests as though they are some kind of anfāl. They did so in compliance with the rules and regulations governing grazing lands and forests. Are the sanctuaries deemed part of the land held in trust? A shop was built on a piece of land that forms part of the precinct of a masjid. Is it permissible to ask for the payment of sarqoflī? There is a public footpath on land that is held in trust. Since residential houses have been built on adjacent private land, it has become necessary to widen the footpath. Is it permissible to widen the footpath from both its sides on a 50-50 basis? Supposing that this is not feasible, is it permissible to lease the required area of the land from the trustee to go ahead with the widening project? For many years now, a water spring has been set apart, by way of endowment, for public use. Is it permissible to supply its water through a pipe grid to different places, including residential homes? A plot of land was donated by its owner for building a masjid on it. This was witnessed by the cleric of the neighborhood and two just witnesses. After a while, a group of people took control of the land and built houses on it. What should those people, as well as the trustees, do? In the matter of lack of evidence as to how to go about dividing the proceeds of endowment between the beneficiaries, among the offspring of the testator, which procedure should come into play here? Would the law of inheritance apply or the division be equal? Forty years ago I donated a property to build a refuge for orphans on it. The trust, verified by the Office of Endowment, has been running ever since. Of late, someone has produced a copy of a document stating that the land had, for the past three centuries, been held in trust. Since the original document does not exist, the document in question does not mention the name of the trustee, there has never been a precedent of any practice that the land had been held in trust then, and since the holders of the actual control reject the claim, can this document be a hindrance to the continuation of the existing endowment for the purpose it was set up to serve? Can the land, endowed for the Muslim public good, be leased to a non-Muslim? Some plots of endowed land were in a site that was appropriated by the state for a development project to build new roads, state buildings, and public parks. The appropriation was made without the permission of the shar‘ī trustee and without compensation. Is this permissible? Can one conclude that the party benefiting from these lands should be made to compensate the price of the lands and the proceeds that would otherwise have accrued from them? Is it obligatory that the permission of the authorized religious authority be sought to pay the compensation or allocate other lands in replacement of the appropriated ones? And finally is it permissible for the Endowments Office or the shar‘ī trustee to agree on the amount of compensation, without losing sight of the interest of the endowment? A person donated some grazing land by way of endowment for the sole benefit of the holy places. The trustee of the endowment leased part of the land to some people. Over the years, the tenants built residential houses and business properties on the land that was not suitable for pasture. They also developed the grazing land into arable land for crops and fruit trees. a. In view of the fact that natural grazing lands are considered a kind of anfāl and public property, was the original endowment valid and can it still be so? b. Since there has been a change of use and a development of the site which made it more attractive, how should one go about fixing the rent? c. Since the grazing land has been developed into fully fledged groves and fields by the tenants themselves, should the tenants pay the same rent, i.e. that of grazing land, or should the rent be on a par with the existing state of the land? If we know that a certain property is an endowment, although the avenue in which the proceeds are to be spent is not known, how should the residents and farmers, making use of the land, go about the matter? By way of endowment, a person gave a plot of arable land for the recitation of the story of martyrdom of Imam Ḥusayn (a.s.) and holding commemorative gatherings on the occasion of the martyrdom of Imam Ali (a.s.). However, in his will, he asked one of his inheritors to put the land at the disposal of the Ministry of Health to build a dispensary on it. What is the ruling in the matter? Twenty years ago a plot of land was donated, by way of endowment, to be used as a graveyard. The donor made himself trustee and after his death a cleric, whose name was mentioned in the original charter of the endowment, should be appointed a trustee. He further directed that, after the death of the cleric, the trustee should be elected according to a certain mechanism. Has the present trustee the right to alter all, or some of, the provisions laid down in the endowment deed or add new ones to them? And should this change affect in any way the main objective behind setting the endowment up, such as turning the land into a car park, would the endowment still be valid? Does usurping an endowment and disposing of it in avenues other than those specified in the endowment deed call for compensation? And does damaging the property held in trust precipitate the compensation in kind or the value thereof, such as demolition of the property or turning the land held in trust into a road? 1234