except through Allah. The basis for all these rulings is the statement of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ concerning the floodwaters of Mahzūr and Mudhaynib: “The person upstream retains the water until it reaches ankle-depth, then releases it to the person downstream”; his statement, peace be upon him: “Neither the water collected in a well nor pooled water may be withheld”; his statement: “Surplus water must not be withheld in order to deny access to pasture”; his statement ﷺ: “There must be neither harm nor reciprocal harm”; and his statement: “A Muslim’s property is not lawful to take except with his willing consent.”

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Mahzūr and Mudhaynib are two well-known valleys of Medina through which rainwater flows, and whose water the people of Medina compete to use. The Prophet ﷺ ruled that the person upstream should retain the water until it reaches ankle-depth, then release it to the person downstream. This ruling applies to all water that is not privately owned and flows through the lands of one group to those of another downstream: whoever’s land the water enters first has priority in using it for irrigation until the water on his land reaches ankle-depth.

The scholars then differed over what happens once the water reaches ankle-depth: must he release all the water downstream, or only what exceeds ankle-depth? Mutarrif, Ibn al-Mājishūn, and Ibn Wahb said that he releases downstream whatever exceeds ankle-depth. Ibn al-Qāsim said that he must instead release all the water, retaining none of it. The first view is more apparent.

Ziyād related from Mālik that the hadith means that the first person, who is closest to the water, should direct water through his irrigation channel to his orchard, allowing it to reach ankle-depth in the channel until his orchard is fully irrigated. The next person then does likewise, for as long as any water remains. He said: “The established practice concerning these two valleys and similar waters in which