Municipal authorities must therefore intervene to prohibit all such practices and to discipline offenders with penalties that will make them think twice. Yet negligence in this vital matter has become widespread: many people now seize sections of the roadway for their own interests, parking their cars there, stockpiling stone, iron, and cement for their construction projects, digging pits, and so forth. Others dump waste, filth, and garbage in the markets, heedless of the harm they cause their fellow Muslims. All of this is forbidden by Allah and His Messenger. Allah the Exalted says, “Those who abuse believing men and believing women for something they have not done bear the burden of slander and a clear sin” (Q 33:58). The Prophet ﷺ said, “A Muslim is the one from whose tongue and hand other Muslims are safe,” and he also said, “Faith is made up of more than seventy branches: the highest of them is the declaration ‘There is no god but Allah,’ the lowest is removing harm from the road, and modesty is a branch of faith.” Numerous other hadiths urge us to respect the rights of Muslims and to refrain from harming them, and one of the gravest forms of harm is to obstruct their pathways and place obstacles in their way.