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Fatwa no. 130 All Praise is due to Allah Alone and peace and blessings be upon the last Prophet. To commence: The Permanent Committee for Scholarly Research and Ifta' has read the question submitted by his Highness, the prince of Al-Ahsa', Fuhayd ibn Fari` Al-Jabir to His Eminence, the Chairman of the Departments of Scholarly Research, Ifta', Da`wah, and Guidance and which is referred by the General Secretariat of the Council of Senior Scholars No.719 / 3 in 7 / 5 / 1392 A.H. This question reads as follows: Fuhayd ibn Fari` Al-Jabir who lives in Yabrin tells me that many scabby camels come to them while they do not know their owners. These camels are branded. They want to anoint them because their owners may lose them. They demand to have a share equals the half of the value or less according to the estimation of the court in return for their effort in anointing, chasing, catching, treating them until they are recovered. Therefore, we would like to know your opinion about this issue, for leaving them will cause them to die and spread (Part No. 15; Page No. 463) the infection among the sound camels.

A: After the Committee perused the question, its answer comes as follows: As long as the brands are recognized, it is easy to find the owners of these brands who will be mostly from the people of a princedom to which Yabrin is affiliated. So, it is obligatory to search for them and urge them as a kind of cooperation in kindness to take care of their camels and treat them as they like in order to maintain their wealth. The Prophet (peace be upon him) forbade wasting money.They will be commanded not to let them mix with other sound camels in order not to infect them. The Prophet (peace be upon him) said: There should be neither harming nor reciprocating harm He (peace be upon him) said: The sick should not be brought to the healthy. If it is difficult to know the owners of the scabby camels, the prince of this region should command an honest person to take them and prevent them from mixing with the sound camels. He should order him to take care of them by irrigation, pasture, fodder and treatment in return for a fixed fee. This fee shall be estimated by the competent authority affiliated to legal court of (Part No. 15; Page No. 464) this princedom. No one has the right to catch, treat them, or prevent it from water except after taking the permission of the princedom and the legal court appendant to this princedom. This will prevent chaos, cease greedy and deprive people from fraud and save people's properties against illegal consumption. May Allah grant us success. May peace and blessings be upon our Prophet Muhammad, his family, and Companions.