to pursue litigation and legal proceedings, but instead wishes to pay him compensation for allowing him to place the beams upon the wall, then this is permissible for the tenant, but not for the owner of the wall. For the owner of the wall is obliged—provided that the wall will not be harmed and his neighbor needs it—to allow him to use it.
If someone asks: In this case, must a fixed term be specified, or may this be overlooked due to necessity? The latter is the answer, because we do not know when the wall may collapse. Thus, it may be stipulated that he pay such-and-such an annual rent, without needing to specify a number of years, due to the necessity involved. It is impossible for us to know when this wall will fall. Accordingly, stipulating a fixed term is not required here, because there is a need not to require it.
His statement, “A woman may not hire herself out without her husband’s permission”: when a woman marries a man, she comes under his authority. The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, described women as captives in the custody of their husbands (1). The term awānī is the plural of ʿāniyah, meaning a captive woman. Allah the Exalted also called the husband a master in the Quran:
“And they both found her master at the door.” [Joseph 12:25]
That is, her husband. Thus, she is under his authority, and her usufruct belongs to her husband,