Shaykh al-Islām Ibn Taymiyyah said, “Any transaction undertaken as a ruse to eliminate the right of shufʿa is null and void; the realities of contracts are not altered by a mere change of wording.”

The subject-matter of shufʿa is undivided land, and whatever trees or buildings stand upon it are included. If the land has been divided but certain easements remain jointly owned by the neighbors—such as an access road, a water supply, and the like—the right of shufʿa continues to exist, according to the sounder of the two scholarly views. This is inferred from the Prophet’s statement, peace and blessings be upon him: “When the boundaries have been fixed and the paths assigned, there is no shufʿa.” Its clear implication is that if the boundaries have been fixed while the paths have not yet been assigned, the right still stands.

Ibn al-Qayyim said, “This is the soundest opinion regarding the shufʿa of neighbors; it is the position of the scholars of Basra, one of the two opinions narrated from Aḥmad, and the preference of the Shaykh.”

Shaykh Taqī al-Dīn [Ibn Taymiyyah] also stated, “The neighbor’s shufʿa is established when he and the buyer share any property right—such as a road, a water source, and the like. Imām Aḥmad affirmed this, and it was chosen by Ibn ʿAqīl, Abū Muḥammad, and others. Al-Ḥārithī said, ‘This is the view that must be adopted, for it reconciles the hadith reports. Neighborly proximity alone does not entail shufʿa unless the path or a similar easement is shared, because shufʿa was legislated to remove harm, and harm usually arises only where there is mingling in the property itself or in a shared access way or the like.’”

The right of shufʿa is established only when its holder demands it immediately upon learning of the sale; if he fails to do so