Factories by their nature are private property. However, they follow the rule of the product that they are producing. If the product is private property then the factory is considered to be private property, such as textile factories. If the product is public property then the factory is considered public property, such as factories for iron ore production.

This article has two parts: Firstly, the origin is that factories are owned by individuals, and secondly, that the factory takes the rule of the product that it produces.

As for the first part, its evidence is that:

. » اصْطَنَعَ خَاتًََا أَنَّ النَّبَِِّ « .

“the Messenger (pbuh) had a ring made for him” reported by Al-Bukhari from ‘Abdullah b. Umar, and:

.» اسْتَصْنَعَ المنِْبَرَ أَنَّهُ « .

“had a pulpit made” as reported by Al-Bukhari from Sahl b. Sa’d Al-Sa’idi, and they were produced by individuals who personally owned the factory. Additionally, people used to have things made for them at the time of the Messenger (pbuh) and he remained quiet over it, to the point that some of them used to make weapons, like Khubab who used to make swords in Jahiliyyah (the era of ignorance before Islam) and continued after he embraced Islam, and his story is mentioned in the Sirah of Ibn Hisham with Al-‘As Bin Wa’il Al-Sahmi when he bought a sword from Khubab. When Khubab came to Al-‘As to confirm the price he joked with him saying: I’ll pay the price for it in Paradise. This indicates that he affirmed individual ownership of factories, irrespective of whether they were weapon, mineral or carpentry factories or anything else. It is not reported that he prohibited the ownership of factories, and there is no text which states that factories are public property, in the same way that there is no text which states that factories belong to the State. Therefore, the evidence that factories can be private property remains general. This is the evidence for the first part. As for the second, its evidence is the rule:

.» إن المصنع يأخذ حكم ما ينتج «.

“The factory takes the rule of what it produces”, and this rule is deduced from the Prophetic narration; it is reported that the Messenger (pbuh) said:

.» لَعَنَ اللهُ شَارِبَ الخَمْرِ وَعَاصِرَهَ ا وَمُعْتَصِرَهَا «.

“Allah (swt) has cursed wine, its drinker, its server, its seller, its buyer, its presser” which is part of a narration in Abu Dawud from Ibn Umar that is authenticated by Ibn Al-Sakan, and the complete narration is:

. لَعَنَ اللَّهُ الخَْمْرَ وَشَارِبهََا وَسَاقِيَهَا وَبَائِعَهَا وَمُبْتَاعَهَا وَعَاصِرَهَا وَمُعْتَصِرَهَا وَحَامِلَهَا « » وَالْمَحْمُولَة إِلَيْهِ .

“Allah (swt) has cursed wine, its drinker, its server, its seller, its buyer, its presser, the one for whom it is pressed, the one who conveys it, and the one to whom it is conveyed.”, and so the prohibition of pressing wine is not a prohibition of pressing itself, but rather it is a prohibition of pressing wine specifically. Therefore, pressing is not forbidden (Haram), but rather it is the pressing to produce alcohol which is forbidden. So pressing is forbidden due to the forbiddance of alcohol, and so it took the rule of the thing that it was being pressed for, and so the prohibition applies to pressing, or in other words, the process of pressing, and so it applies to the instruments used for pressing. Therefore, the production takes the rule of the product that it is producing, and the factory takes the rule of the product that it manufactures, and this is the evidence that the factory takes the rule of what it produces, in other words, it is the evidence for this rule, since the forbiddance of the factory came from the forbiddance of the product that it produces. The narration is not evidence that factories are public property; rather it is only evidence for the factory taking the rule of the product that it produces. This is the evidence for the second part; in other words, the rule deduced from the narration is the evidence for this part.

Factories are, therefore, judged upon this basis; so if the product they produce is not from the materials which are counted as public property, then these products are owned individually, such as textile factories, because the Messenger (pbuh) affirmed the production of swords, clothes and shoes which are all things that are individually owned. If the factories were producing materials which are counted as public property, such as factories to extract oil, and steel, then they are considered to be public and not private property. This is because when the Messenger (pbuh) prohibited the production of alcohol, he gave the factory the rule of the material it produces, which is the evidence for this article.