4. A number of our people have narrated from Sahl ibn Ziyad and Ahmad ibn Muhammad from ibn Mahbub from al-‘Ala’ from Muhammad ibn Muslim who has said the following: “This is concerning my question before abu Ja‘far , about buying the land of tax payers (non-Muslims). He (the Imam) said, ‘It is not unlawful. On its coming (the time of the rise of al-Mahdiy with Divine Authority and Power) you will pay what they pay.’ I then asked him (the Imam) about the case of a man from people of al-Nil and a land that he had bought at the outlet of al- Nil about which people of that area said it was their land and people of al-‘Ustan said it was of their land. He (the Imam) said, ‘You must not buy it without agreement of its owner.’”