beams upon the wall is obligatory, however, he has no right to charge rent, due to the Prophet’s saying: “Let no neighbour prevent his neighbour from fixing his beams—or, as he said, a beam—into his wall.” Abu Hurayrah, when he was governor of Madinah, said: “Why do I see you turning away from it? By Allah, I shall certainly cast it between your shoulders.” (1) “I shall cast it” means: the beams; that is, if you will not place them on the wall, I shall put them on your shoulders. Thus, what the author says here is restricted to cases in which the neighbour is not entitled to make use of the wall. If he is entitled to do so, then the owner may not charge rent, because this is an obligation upon him, and no payment is due for fulfilling an obligation.
His statement, “If it collapses, he may not put them back except with his permission,” means that if the wall collapses, the beams may not be put back except with the wall-owner’s permission. The neighbour cannot say, “He gave me permission previously, and that permission extends to both the first wall and the second wall.” We say: No. The first wall has collapsed and can no longer be used. If he rebuilds the wall, you must seek permission anew. If he says, “The basic presumption is that the permission remains,” we say: That is not so. The basic presumption that permission remains applies if your beams come loose from the wall, or something similar occurs, and then you put them back onto the wall which remains standing; in such a case, it may be said that the basic presumption is that permission remains. But if the wall collapses and its owner rebuilds it, you may not put back what you had previously been lent except with his permission, due to his statement: “If it collapses, he may not put them back except with his permission.”
His statement, “A loan is subject to liability,” indicates that a borrowed item is guaranteed in all circumstances, since he said, “is subject to liability,” without making any distinction. Thus, a borrowed item is subject to liability for