The factory, in its essence, is one of the individual properties. It is one of the things which is allowed to be owned by individuals. It has been confirmed that individuals used to own factories at the time of the Prophet (pbuh), such as those for manufacturing shoes, dresses (clothes), swords and other goods. The Prophet (pbuh) consented to them and He had the Minbar manufactured by them, which indicates that the individual ownership of factories is allowed. But the Hukm (divine rule) of the factory is decided by the nature of the material which it manufactures, and the evidence of this is that the Muslims are prohibited to possess factories that produce wine, according to the Hadith which states that Allah (swt) cursed the one who presses (grape to make) the wine and the one who orders this to be done. So the prohibition of pressing wine is not prohibition of pressing as such, rather it is prohibition of pressing wine specifically. Thus, pressing is not Haram (prohibited), rather it is the pressing to produce alcohol which is the Haram (prohibited) matter. Accordingly, the prohibition of the alcohol factory results from the prohibition of the materials it produces. In this way, it appears that the rule of the factory is the same rule of the material it produces. Therefore, factories have to be examined: if the materials produced by them are not of the public properties, then theses factories are of the individual properties, such as the factories of sweets, textiles, carpentry and the like. However, if the factories were for manufacturing materials which are of the public property, such as the factories of minerals which process the uncountable (undepleted) minerals, then it is allowed for them to be owned publicly, due to the material which the factory produces, be it gold, silver, iron, copper or petrol (oil), in the same way that the rule of the alcohol factory follows the rule of alcohol in prohibition. These factories are also allowed to be owned by the government, since the State is obliged to produce these minerals on behalf of the Muslims, for the purpose of their interest. These factories are also allowed to be owned by individuals, where the State can hire them for a certain amount, which is agreed upon. However, the ownership by individuals, of the tools and factories does not allow them to use them in producing these uncountable (undepleted) minerals for themselves, because these minerals are public properties for all the Muslims. Nor is any individual allowed to own them to the exclusion of others, but they are allowed to rent them to the State for a certain defined amount, where the State uses them to produce these minerals. As for the factories which treat iron and transform it to sheets, the car factories and the like, whose materials are of the individual ownership, any individual is allowed to own them, because the materials which they produce are not from the materials of the public property. Therefore, every factory whose manufactured product is of the public property, is allowed to be owned publicly, or by the State or by individuals from whom the State is allowed to hire. Likewise, every factory whose manufactured product is of the private property, is allowed to be owned by individuals because this is from the individual ownership.