is liable.

Likewise, if a person leaves mud, a piece of wood, a stone, or digs a hole in the roadway and, as a result, a passer-by is killed or injured; or if he casts melon rinds or the like onto the path, or lets water flow across it so that someone slips and is killed or harmed, he is liable in every one of these cases, for such conduct is a transgression.

How often, in our own times, do people treat these matters with indifference! Streets are dug up and blocked, obstacles are placed, and great harm ensues—yet no one calls the perpetrators to account. One of them may even seize the public road altogether, using it for his own purposes, inconveniencing and injuring passers-by, utterly heedless of the sin he thereby incurs.

Among the acts that entail liability is when someone keeps a vicious dog that attacks those who pass by and mauls a person; he must pay compensation, for he transgressed by keeping such a dog.

Similarly, if he digs a well in his own courtyard for his personal benefit, he is liable for whatever is destroyed because of it, for he is obliged to secure it so as to prevent harm to passers-by. If he leaves it without such safeguards, he is a transgressor.

If a person owns livestock, he is required to keep them at night from damaging other people’s crops. Should he neglect them and they cause damage, he is liable, because the Prophet ﷺ ruled: “Owners of property must guard it during the day, and whatever their animals destroy at night is guaranteed against them.” This ḥadith is related by Aḥmad, Abū Dāwūd, and Ibn Mājah. Accordingly, the owner of the animal is not liable for what it destroys