774 – Abū Rāfiʿ (may Allah be pleased with him) reported that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, “The neighbor has the strongest claim to his adjoining property.” Al-Bukhārī recorded it, and the full narration includes a detailed story. (1)
Vocabulary of the ḥadith
• ṣaqabihi (with an open ṣād and qāf): In al-Nihāyah it is explained that al-ṣaqab means proximity and direct adjacency; it refers to whatever lies close to one’s house, so al-ṣāqib is “the one who is near.” It is also pronounced saqab with a sīn; Ibn Durayd stated that both forms are classical. One says, “Their dwellings are mutually ṣaqiba,” meaning “they are close to one another.” In Jāmiʿ al-Uṣūl it is noted that the spelling with ṣād is more common; both words are verbal nouns derived from asqabtu al-dār and ṣaqabtu-hā, “I brought the house close.”
Points extracted from the two ḥadiths
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The neighbor’s right over his neighbor is immense. In an authentic report the Prophet ﷺ said, “Gabriel kept advising me about the neighbor until I thought he would make him an heir.”
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Among those rights is that when a neighbor wishes to sell his property, it is proper for him to offer it first to his neighbor. Should the latter wish to buy it, he has a stronger claim than anyone else, for living side by side may expose him to harm or annoyance that can only be removed by purchasing the property himself. Someone else might buy it who neither desires his company nor appreciates his closeness. As the proverb goes, “The neighbor comes before the house.” By purchasing it, much harm and inconvenience are averted.
Scholarly disagreement
Abū Ḥanīfah maintained that the right of pre-emption (shufʿah) belongs to the neighbor without qualification, whether or not he shares any common utilities with the seller, relying on the plain sense of these two ḥadiths.