Iqta' in fiqh (the ruler's grant of land)

In the lexical sense iqta' means granting or conferring use. A ruler's grant is a gift of a land, in ownership or in use, to someone who asks for it. ¹²

Revival of dead land (ihya' al-mawat), state gifts (a'tiyat al-sultan), reserved pasture (hima), and reserved income (irsad) are distinguished from iqta'. ²

Iqta' is permitted under conditions. The Prophet's grant to al-Zubayr of the ground his horse ran over in the dead land of al-Naqi' is the model, and later caliphs did the same. ² It is of two kinds, the grant of use and the grant of ownership. ²⁵

This covers public places such as the seats of markets, the open spaces of streets, the margins of towns, and the lodgings of travellers. The jurists divide it into three kinds by place, and the rule differs for deserts, houses and streets. ²⁶

This is a grant of ownership by the ruler, free of any return, for reviving land or for other reasons. ⁵ Land is of three kinds: dead land, cultivated land and mines. ⁵

• Dead land: if it has been dead since antiquity, the ruler may grant it to someone who will revive it, and most jurists bar others from reviving it; the Hanbalis did not treat it as a full ownership grant. ⁵
• Cultivated land: if its owner is known, the ruler has no say over it except for public rights. If it belongs to the treasury, most jurists forbid granting it, and the Hanafis allow it. ⁷
• Mines: surface minerals such as salt and kohl may not be granted by most jurists; underground metals such as gold, silver and iron were allowed by the Hanafis and refused by others. ⁷⁴

The ruler may give state land for cultivation in return for the kharaj. The Malikis, Shafi'is and Hanbalis forbid granting it outright; the Hanafis allow it. ⁴ All jurists agree that public utilities, and whatever the Muslims cannot do without, may not be granted, such as roads, the course of water, and a village's pasture. ⁴³

A grant that became ownership, or was bought from the treasury, may be rented or lent by its holder. ⁴ The ruler may not take back a grant from its holder once it has been revived or paid for, except by right. ⁴³ The jurists also set a period for cultivation: the Hanafis took three years; the Shafi'is and Hanbalis set no fixed term and looked to the holder's ability. ³

The waqf of a grant is valid only to the extent that the grantor owns it. The ruler may endow part of the treasury for a public purpose. ³ A grant of ownership is normally free of return; a return stipulated by the ruler is allowed by the Hanafis, Malikis and Hanbalis, and disputed by the Shafi'is. ³⁸

The entry concept/iqta treats the term in the historians' usage. The two entries should be read together.