Hima (protected pasture)

الحِمى

Hima lexically is a place protected from people grazing in it; technically it is a stretch of waste land that the ruler protects for particular herds. ^{1 2} The rule is prohibition, since it narrows the common ground, on the saying 'no protection except for God and His messenger'. ² The majority allow the ruler to protect pasture for the horses of fighters, the herds of the poll tax, the camels of zakat and weak herds under conditions; the Prophet ﷺ is reported to have protected al-Naqi' for Muslim horses and al-Rabadha for zakat camels, and Umar and Uthman did the same. ³ Conditions include that it be set by the ruler or his deputy, serve the Muslims, not be private property, and be small; the ruler may not reserve it for himself. ^{4 5} Officials may not take payment from herders for waste or protected pasture; the ruler should appoint an agent to admit the herds of the weak and bar those of the strong. ⁵ A violator who continues after being warned may be disciplined. ⁵ The protection set by the Prophet stands and reviving such land is void; for protections set by later rulers the Shafiis have two views on whether reviving confers ownership, and the Hanbalis have two views, the preferred one holding that revival confers ownership by the hadith on reviving dead land. ⁶ A protection set by a ruler other than the Prophet may be annulled when the public interest requires it; the Prophet's protection is not annulled. ^{5 6}