What is the scope of neighbors when receiving a bequest (Wasiyya)?
General Chapter
Al-Mughni
Book of Bequests
Primary text
The scope of neighbors to whom a bequest is made is forty houses from every side. This is the position stated by Imam Ahmad, Al-Awza'i, and Al-Shafi'i. The evidence for this is the narration from Abu Hurairah that the Prophet, peace be upon him, said: 'The neighbor is forty houses, thus and thus and thus and thus.' This narration is taken as an explicit text from which deviation is not permissible if authenticated.
Supporting text
Abu Hanifa holds that the neighbor is only the immediately adjacent neighbor, deriving this from the Prophet's saying, 'The neighbor has the primary right to preemption (shuf'a),' which is established only for the adjacent neighbor, and because the term 'neighbor' is derived from adjacency. Qatadah defined the neighbor as the occupants of one house or two houses.