عرصہ

العَرْصَة

In the lexicon, arsa is the courtyard of a house, an open wide space with no building on it; some say any open place without building ¹. Jurists use it in two senses: a narrow one, the open yard between houses, and a broader one, any plot of land whether or not it lies between houses ¹. Related words are hareem, what surrounds a thing and serves its rights and uses, and fina', what extends from a thing and serves its purposes ^{1 2}. In a sale, an arsa with a building and trees on it enters the sale when described as land, courtyard or plot; pre-emption over it is disputed: the Malikis deny pre-emption over the courtyard, while the Shafi'is and Hanbalis tie it to whether the plot can be divided ^{2 3}. In oaths and bequests the rules differ: a person who swears not to enter a house that collapses into a courtyard does not breach the oath according to the majority, and building on a bequeathed courtyard counts as retraction according to the Hanafis, Shafi'is and Hanbalis ^{4 5}.