Is it permissible to open a door from a house onto an adjacent thoroughfare street or an open alley, even if the house opens onto a non-thoroughfare alley?

General Chapter

Al-Mughni

Book of Settlement

Book 16 · Issue 4 · Bab 1

Open in Qurani

Primary text

If the back of one owner's house faces a public thoroughfare street (shari' naafidh) or a thoroughfare alley (zaqaq naafidh), and they open a door onto that side, it is permissible. This is because they are benefiting from an area where no specific ownership right of others is established over it. If it is objected that this makes the alley accessible to passersby from the street, the response is that the alley itself does not become thoroughfare; only their specific house becomes accessible, and no one has the right to pass through their house.