-VOLUME 4- · 39 – THE RULING ON LAND DECLARED AS A RESERVE
3083 – It is narrated from Saʿb ibn Jassāma (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) said: The right to declare a place as a reserve (ḥimā) belongs only to Allah and His Messenger. [30] Ibn Shihāb said: According to the report that has reached me, the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) declared the bed of a lake near Medina as a reserve.
EXPLANATION
In the Age of Ignorance (Jāhiliyya), some influential individuals would take a dog up a hill, make it bark, and declare as a reserve the area up to where the dog's voice could be heard, grazing their animals there. In the era of felicity, our Master the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) designated certain reserves for the camels given in charity (ṣadaqa). Forbidding the practice from the Age of Ignorance, he stated that there was no reserve except that which the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) had declared, and that protection is for the sake of Allah and His Messenger. Thus, he put a stop to the actions of those who monopolized pastures to the detriment of public interest. A governor may, again for the benefit of the public, declare an area as a reserve and then return it to public use. However, an individual cannot declare a public area as a reserve and then allocate it to himself for grazing his own animals.
3084 – It is narrated from Saʿb ibn Jassāma (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) declared the area of Naqī, which was a lake bed, as a reserve and said: “The right to declare a reserve belongs only to Allah, the Mighty and Majestic.”