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Your uncle has no right to change the agreed-upon price of land

Question

Assalamualaikum My questuion is a problem that my father faces.My father is the youngest in his family and he has three elder brothers.15-20 years back my father's 2 elder brothers purchased a property.Both of them invested equally.later on after 4 years the second elder brother agreed to sell his share to my father at the amount he had invested.My father paid him the exact amount.Time passed and in 2009 my father and the eldest brother decided to build their houses on their share of the land.The construction started and it is now at the concluding stages.Suddenly now the second elder brother(from whom my father has purchased) is demanding money because the rate of the piece of land has increased nearly 100 times.He says that my father has to pay him for the piece of land at the present rate of it.After some persuasion he has agreed to reduce the amount.He says that his claim is right islamically and there is a fatwa that supports it.So what should be the stand of my father?.Is he required to pay the additional amount or the present rate of it?Is the claim of his second elder brother justified or when does it become justifiable? Please support your answeer in the light of the sunnah,the ahadith and the quran. jazaakallah

Answer

All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad  sallallaahu  `alayhi  wa  sallam ( may  Allaah exalt his mention ) is His slave and Messenger.

If your uncle had sold his share of the land to your father and the sale was concluded on this basis, then your uncle has no right now to ask your father for any money more than the price they had agreed upon previously and he has no right to invalidate the sale or to withdraw from it or to increase the price of the land even if it had multiplied many fold.

Therefore, the attention of your uncle should be drawn to the ruling on the matter and to the fact that he has no right in what he claims if the matter is really as you mentioned in the question.

In any case, when disputes occur between brothers and relatives, we advise them to have a mutual understanding and agree upon what preserves affection and bonds of brotherhood between them even if this requires that some of them renounce some of their rights in favor of the others.

If this is not achieved, then they may take the matter to an Islamic court or to the scholars and rational people (to arbitrate between them).

Allaah Knows best.

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