the walls, then release it to your neighbour.” (1) The walls are what we call al-ghalālī, or al-ghallah: the barriers that separate the irrigation basins. These walls were measured and found to reach the ankle. The scholars therefore took the ankle as the standard, because the height of the walls also varies: some people make them higher, while others make them lower. Thus, the ankle became the criterion: he retains the water until it reaches the ankle, then releases it to his neighbour. It is known that water reaching the ankle is more than mere irrigation, since mere irrigation may be achieved with only half that amount. This was what the Messenger ﷺ initially instructed. But when the Anṣārī man, may Allah be pleased with him, said this, the Prophet ﷺ upheld al-Zubayr’s right and said, “Irrigate until it reaches the walls.”

Once he releases it to the person after him—if there are three or four of them—the second irrigates until it reaches the ankle, the third until it reaches the ankle, and the fourth until it reaches the ankle. If nothing remains for him because the water is scarce, then he has no share.

His statement: “The imam, to the exclusion of everyone else, may designate protected grazing land for the animals of the Muslims, provided that he does not harm them.” The author, may Allah have mercy on him, stipulated three conditions for designating protected grazing land. Pastures is the plural of pasture, meaning a place of grazing where grass and herbage are plentiful. Lands differ: some contain abundant grass and vegetation, while others contain less.

May anyone designate any of these lands as protected?