This ḥadīth, then, shows that a neighbor is not allowed to prevent his fellow-neighbor from resting his beam upon the shared wall; and should he refuse, the judge may compel him, for this is a fixed right established by virtue of neighborhood.

These are some of the rulings that pertain to relations between neighbors.

As for matters related to public thoroughfares:

• It is impermissible to inconvenience Muslims along their roads. Rather, the way must be kept open and all harm removed from it, for doing so is one of the branches of faith, as the Prophet ﷺ informed us.

• A person may not create on his own property anything that encroaches upon or narrows the roadway—such as constructing an overhead roof that blocks riders and pack animals, or building a bench that juts out for people to sit on.

• He is likewise forbidden to turn the public road into a parking place for his animal or car, for that constricts the passage or may lead to accidents.

Shaykh al-Islām Ibn Taymiyyah (d. 728 AH) said: “No one may project any part of a building into the Muslims’ roadway; indeed, even plastering a wall is disallowed—unless the owner of the wall sets it back within his own boundary by the thickness of the plaster…” End quote.

Planting, building, digging, depositing firewood, slaughtering animals, dumping refuse or ashes, and anything else that harms passersby is likewise prohibited in the public road.