He said: “If his wall leans, and he does not demolish it until it causes damage, he is not liable for it, because the leaning is incidental and its collapse was not due to his action.”
His statement, “incidental,” indicates that if he had built it leaning and it then fell upon people and harmed them, he would be liable. His statement, “not due to his action,” further indicates that if its collapse resulted from his own action—for example, if he saw the wall leaning and pushed it with his hand, causing it to fall upon something and damage it—then he is liable, because it was caused by his action.
The jurists differed concerning this issue. Some said that if he knows that it is leaning and does not set it upright, he is liable, because he is obliged to prevent harm from reaching the Muslims. If the wall leans toward the street and he does not set it upright, this means that he has not prevented the harm.
Others said: if he is called upon to deal with it, he is liable; but if he is not called upon, he is not liable.
The third view—and it is the authoritative position of the school—is that he bears no liability at all, whether or not he is called upon to demolish it. However, the correct view is that he is liable, because the wall is his wall and he has been commanded to remove harm. This is conditional, however, upon a period having elapsed in which he was able to demolish it but did not do so. If only a period in which he was unable to demolish it has elapsed, then he bears no liability, because he neither transgressed nor neglected his duty.
Accordingly, if a person is away from his home, and the wall leans and falls, while he neither knows of it nor is informed of it, then he bears no liability, because he neither transgressed nor neglected his duty.
“Whatever damage a grazing animal causes to crops at night is to be compensated by its owner; the reverse applies during the day, unless it is sent near that which it customarily damages. ………….”
His statement, “Whatever damage a grazing animal causes”: a grazing animal is any animal, such as camels, cattle, sheep—both wool-bearing sheep and goats—and others. It is called a bahīmah (a dumb animal) because it does not speak; for this reason, it is also called ʿajmāʾ (an inarticulate animal), because its utterance is not understood.