them through a plausible interpretation. As for their report that the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, “The associate has a stronger claim than the co-owner,” its apparent meaning would entail that the co-owner has no right of pre-emption, which no one maintains. We understand it to mean that the associate has a stronger claim to be offered the property first. For if the seller sells without offering it to him, he loses the opportunity to acquire it. A co-owner, however, does not lose that opportunity if the seller sells without offering it to him, because he can acquire it from the purchaser through pre-emption. The hadith thus supports our view that the associate—that is, the new neighbour in respect of the property—has no right of pre-emption. Their analogy is invalidated by the case of the neighbour opposite. Ibn Shaʿbān said that if neighbours were entitled to pre-emption, everyone in the town where the house was sold would be entitled to it, citing the words of Allah, mighty and majestic:
“If the hypocrites do not desist” [al-Ahzāb: 60], to the end of the verse.
Thus He described everyone in Medina as a neighbour of the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace. And Allah grants success.
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As for the second point—that pre-emption applies only to houses and other immovable property, not to other goods—the evidence from the hadith is its statement: “Once boundaries have been established and access routes assigned, there is no pre-emption.” Division by establishing boundaries and assigning access routes applies only to houses and other immovable property, unlike goods, which are divided by measure or weight. This is the position of Mālik, may Allah have mercy on him, and all his companions, and it is the view of the majority of scholars. Some, however, have granted pre-emption in undivided property of every kind, including immovable property, goods, animals and other things. This is an anomalous view held by some scholars of Mecca. A report to this effect is attributed to the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, through a disconnected chain, in the narrations of Saʿīd ibn al-Musayyab and others. Mālik, may Allah have mercy on him, said: “That is the sunnah concerning which there is no disagreement among us,” meaning in Medina. The argument by analogy is that animals and goods are property that can be moved from place to place, and therefore no right of pre-emption applies to them, by analogy with dinars, dirhams, and goods measured by volume or weight. And Allah Most High grants success.
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As for the third point—that pre-emption applies only to property that can be divided, not to property that cannot—the evidence from the hadith is the Prophet’s statement, may Allah bless him and grant him peace: “Pre-emption applies to what has not been divided,” for his words, “to what