Al-Sharḥ al-Mumtiʿ - Ibn al-'Uthaymin - (10/63)

Al-Sharḥ al-MumtiʿIbn al-'Uthaymin

As for emptying the drainage pit and the privy, this is the lessee’s responsibility if he received them empty.

His statement, “As for emptying the drainage pit and the privy, this is the lessee’s responsibility if he received them empty”: the drainage pit is the hole into which wastewater from washing and the like is poured. It is called a drainage pit because it swallows the water. The privy, on the other hand, is the place where excrement collects. In the past, they would dig a pit for the excrement, and the room containing this pit was called a privy because its occupant would conceal himself therein—that is, screen himself from others.

Is emptying the drainage pit and the privy the responsibility of the lessee or the lessor? It is the lessee’s responsibility, because he is the one who filled them. This is why the author stipulated, “if he received them empty”: it becomes his responsibility because he received them empty and must therefore return them empty. If he received them half full, then he is responsible for half, and so on; that is, he is responsible in proportion to the extent to which they became full during his tenancy.

At the present time, drainage pits and privies do not exist in most countries. It is therefore said that repairing the pipes—that is, the drains—is the lessor’s responsibility, because they are fixed installations. But if these drains become blocked, then that is the lessee’s responsibility, because they became blocked through his actions. All that the jurists—may Allah have mercy on them—have mentioned may be said to be subject to customary practice: whatever is customarily the responsibility of the lessee or the lessor is accordingly assigned to him. If people dispute, then perhaps we refer back to the statements of the jurists. But where there is no dispute and an established custom consistently assigns this matter to the lessor and that matter to the lessee, then one must refer to custom, for Allah the Exalted says:

“O you who believe, fulfil your contracts.” [al-Ma'idah 5:1]

This commands the fulfilment of a contract in its essence, its specifications, and its conditions.

فَأَمَّا تَفْرِيغُ البَالُوعَةِ وَالكَنِيفِ، فَيَلْزَمُ المُسْتَأْجِرَ إِذَا تَسَلَّمَهَا فَارِغَةً. قوله: «فأما تفريغ البالوعة والكنيف فيلزم المستأجر إذا تسلمها فارغة»، «البالوعة» هي الحفرة التي يصب فيها الماء الفاضل من غسيل ونحوه وسمِّيت بالوعة؛ لأنها تبلع الماء، وأما الكنيف فهو مجمع العذرة، وكانوا فيما سبق يحفرون حفرة لتكون فيها العذرة، والبيت الذي يكون فيه هذه الحفرة يسمى الكنيف؛ لأن صاحبه يكتنف فيه أي يستتر عن الغير، والبالوعة والكنيف هل على المستأجر إفراغها أو على المؤجر؟ على المستأجر؛ لأنه هو الذي ملأها، ولهذا اشترط المؤلف وقال: «إذا تسلمها فارغة» تكون عليه؛ لأنه تسلمها فارغة فلزم أن يردها فارغة، فإن تسلمها وفيها النصف فعليه النصف وهلم جراً، يعني بحسب ما أدرك من ملئها فيكون عليه. في الوقت الحاضر ليس هناك بالوعة ولا كنيف في أكثر البلاد، فيقال: على المؤجر إصلاح المواسير أي المجاري؛ لأن هذا يبقى، لكن لو تسددت هذه المجاري فإنها على المستأجر؛ لأنها تسددت بفعله، وكل هذا الذي قاله الفقهاء ﵏ يمكن أن يقال: إنه يرجع إلى العرف فيما جرت العادة أنه على المستأجر أو على المؤجر، فإن تنازع الناس فربما نرجع إلى كلام الفقهاء، وأما بدون تنازع وكون العرف مطرداً بأن هذا على المؤجر وهذا على المستأجر، فالواجب الرجوع إلى العرف لقول الله تعالى: ﴿يَاأَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا أَوْفُوا بِالْعُقُودِ﴾ [المائدة: ١] وهذا أمر بالوفاء بالعقد بأصله وصفاته وشرطه.