In the name of Allah the Beneficent the Merciful

Peace, blessings and mercy of Allah be upon you.

We have a piece of land which was endowed to be a religious school. Now, most of the endowers died as well as the supervisor of the land. The question is: Can anybody, like the principal, for example, build a big mosque or anything else without pay? and if the answer is yes, could we stay inside the mosque for `Itikaf? and can we pray the salutation Rak`ats in it? Otherwise, what is the Shari`ah ruling on that mosque, according to the Shafi`i doctrine? Please, provide your answer along with the text. Jazakum Allahu Khairan.

In the name of Allah the Beneficent the Merciful

Peace, blessings and mercy of Allah be upon you.

Praise be to Allah, prayers and peace be upon His kind Messenger, family members, companions and followers.

Death of the endower(s) and supervisor(s) does not abolish the endowment, but the Muslim community should elect some honest and sincere people who can supervise this endowment and take care of its interests. And everything should be executed on the way the endower(s) recommended it to be, and if the interest lies in building a mosque on this property, and that was in accordance with the endower(s) wish, then there is no problem in doing that, and it applies on it what applies on all other  mosques in all rules and regulations in this connection, including staying inside it for I`tikaf and praying the two salutation Rak`ats in it, etc, as soon as it becomes a real and actual mosque. Allah knows best.