but you are the one who needs it.” This is not sound reasoning, for the need is his; yet this service is compensated for through the rent. Thus, it is said to the lessor: this is your responsibility.

His statement, “and attending to the camel,” means that he must remain with it, lest it stray away or something happen to it that incapacitates it. Thus, attending to the camel is the lessor’s responsibility.

This applies when the lessor is travelling along with the baggage and the camels. But if he leases out the camel alone and says, “Take this camel, travel upon it, and return it,” then it is clear that these matters are not the lessor’s responsibility, since he is not accompanying it. What the jurists—may Allah have mercy on them—mean is the customary situation in which the lessor travels with the camels. In our usage, he is called the camel-driver, after the word camel. If the camel-driver is with the camels, then he is responsible for what the author mentioned. But if he leases out only the animal, none of that is his responsibility.

His statement, “and the keys to the house”: the house keys are the lessor’s responsibility. Accordingly, if the lessee loses them without negligence or misconduct, the lessor must make replacements and give them to him, because they are the lessor’s responsibility, while being a trust in the lessee’s possession.

His statement, “and its maintenance,” means that if part of the house collapses in a way that prevents the lessee from fully deriving its benefit, the lessor is responsible for repairing it. Anything beyond that, however, is not required of him unless stipulated, such as what they call “décor”; this is not the lessor’s responsibility unless it is made a condition.

As for fans and air-conditioning, they are the lessor’s responsibility, unlike heaters, which are the lessee’s responsibility. That is because everything fixed in place is the lessor’s responsibility, whereas movable items are the lessee’s responsibility.