What is the ruling regarding retrieval from a well if the rescuers fear for their own lives?
General Chapter
Al-Mughni
Book of Funerals
Primary text
If people descend into the well, require the water, and fear for their own safety, they are permitted to remove the body unanimously, even if it results in mutilation, as preserving living souls is prioritized over preserving the deceased from mutilation. Preserving the living is easier for God than killing a Muslim, and preserving life supersedes preserving property (as if the deceased swallowed another's property, the stomach would be cut open to save the money).