Chapter: Rulings on the Destruction of Property

Allah has forbidden any aggression against people’s wealth or its wrongful seizure, and He has ordained financial liability for whatever is destroyed without right, even if the destruction occurs by mistake.

Whoever destroys another person’s property—provided that the property is protected and the act is done without the owner’s permission—must make restitution.

Imam al-Muwaffaq said, “We know of no disagreement on this point; it applies whether the act was deliberate or accidental, and whether the perpetrator is legally accountable or not.”

The same liability falls on anyone who merely causes the destruction of property. If someone opens a door and what had been secured behind it is lost, or unties a container and its contents flow out and perish, he is liable.

Likewise, if one loosens the halter or fetter of an animal and it wanders off and is lost, he must compensate for it.

The ruling also holds for a person who ties an animal in a narrow roadway; if a passer-by trips over it and dies or is injured, he is liable, because tying the animal in the path is a transgression.

Similarly, if someone parks a car in the roadway and another vehicle—or a pedestrian—collides with it, causing damage, he is liable. This is supported by the report related by al-Dāraqutni and others: “Whoever leaves an animal standing in the Muslims’ thoroughfare or in one of their marketplaces, and it treads on a hand or a foot, then he…"