The majority of scholars—including the three Imams—hold that no right of pre-emption (shufʿah) belongs to a mere neighbor, nor to a co-owner once the property has been partitioned and each party has been assigned a separate right of way. They base this on the wording recorded by al-Bukhārī and Muslim: “When the boundaries have been demarcated and the paths laid out, there is no pre-emption.” Many other sound hadiths convey the same ruling. Moreover, the Lawgiver established shufʿah only to remove harm, and an ordinary neighbor is not exposed to a degree of harm that would necessitate granting him that right.

As for the two hadiths cited earlier, they cannot match the opposing reports in either quantity or strength. They can be interpreted as referring to a neighbor who actually shares with the seller certain common utilities—such as a single pathway, a drainage channel, a common well, and the like. On this point the scholars differ, but the weightier opinion is that such a neighbor does enjoy the right of pre-emption, as will be substantiated shortly, Allah willing.