Is a neighbor permitted to engage in activities on their property that cause harm to an adjacent property owner?

General Chapter

Al-Mughni

Book of Reviving Dead Land

Book 26 · Issue 2 · Bab 1

Open in Qurani

Primary text

A neighbor is forbidden from performing actions on their property that cause harm to the neighbor, such as establishing a tannery, a bathhouse that causes detriment through heat, ash, or smoke, digging a cesspit near the foundation of the neighbor's wall causing offense by smell or otherwise, or establishing a bakery in a market of perfumers where it inconveniences neighbors. The governing principle is the Prophet's saying: "There shall be no harm and no reciprocating of harm" (La darar wa la dirar). Causing subsequent harm to a neighbor is prohibited, similar to using a pile driver that shakes and ruins walls, or dumping refuse or soil at the base of a wall in a manner that causes damage.

Supporting text

Al-Shafi'i permits all such activities, asserting that they are permissible uses of one's own property, comparable to building or demolishing.