The Beneficiary’s Use of the Pledge

Question: What is the legal ruling on this scenario: A person pledges a known area of agricultural land for a specific amount to another person until he is able to repay the amount. The pledgee takes possession of the land and invests in it, taking its produce for himself and giving the pledgor nothing from it, until the pledge amount is repaid. The pledge period may extend to decades, and the pledgee does not return the land to its owner until he has received the full pledge amount.

First: What is the ruling on this produce that the pledgee obtains over this entire period? Is it lawful or forbidden? And what should one who has done this do if this action is forbidden? Must he repent from it?

And secondly: What is the position of the pledgor who was compelled by his financial circumstances to make this pledge?

And third: What is the position of the witnesses to the contract for this pledge, given that the pledgor acknowledges in this contract that he permitted the pledgor the benefit of this land without a share or rent until the amount is repaid? Please inform us, may Allah reward you with good.

Answer: The pledgee’s use of the pledge involves a detailed ruling:

First: If he uses it without the pledgor’s permission, this is not permissible under any circumstances,As he (peace and blessings be upon him) said: ،And by his saying (peace and blessings be upon him): ،And his saying (peace and blessings be upon him):, and there are many hadiths on this matter, so it is not permissible for the pledgee to benefit from the pledge without the pledgor’s permission.

It was said in al-Mughni: We are not aware of any disagreement among the scholars on this.
However, if the pledgor permits the pledgee to benefit from the pledge, and the debt is a
loan, then it is not permissible for the pledgee to benefit from the pledge even if the pledgor permits it, because this becomes usury or interest,As he (peace and blessings be upon him) said:. Although there is discussion regarding this hadith, the consensus of the scholars is that the lender is not permitted to benefit from the borrower’s wealth because of the loan, so this is usury or interest. It is not permissible to write this up or to testify to it,Because the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) says:. This is usury or interest. So if the debt is a loan, and the borrower pledges something with the lender, it is not permissible for him to benefit from it, whether permission is given or not, because this is usury or interest.
However, if the debt is not a loan, for example if it is the price of a sale or something similar, and he is permitted to benefit from it, then there is no blame on him in that, as there is no harm involved. And Allah knows best.