forbade ʿusb al-faḥl (taking a stud fee for the male animal).¹
The two Ṣaḥīḥs likewise relate that he ﷺ said, “Let not a neighbor prevent his neighbor from driving a wooden peg into his wall.”²
Making the granting of this benefit compulsory is the position of Aḥmad and others. If someone needs to run water through another person’s land without harming the owner, must the latter be compelled to allow it? There are two scholarly opinions on the matter—both transmitted from Aḥmad.³ Narrations from ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb support compulsion; when one man refused he said, “By Allah, we shall let it flow even if it has to cross your belly.”
More than one Companion and Successor held that the zakāt due on jewelry is fulfilled by lending it out, and this is one of the two views in the school of Aḥmad and others.⁴
The benefits that must be supplied fall into two kinds. One concerns rights attached to the property itself, such as those mentioned for horses, camels, and the loan of jewelry. The other becomes obligatory because people are in need of it.
Similarly, offering the benefits of one’s own body becomes mandatory when there is need—such as teaching knowledge, issuing fatwas, giving testimony, adjudicating disputes, enjoining good and forbidding evil, jihad, and other bodily services. Hence the duty to provide the benefits of wealth to the needy is not negated. Allah the Exalted says, “And the witnesses should not refuse when they are called” (Al-Baqarah 2:282),
and He says, “And let no scribe refuse to write as Allah has taught him” (Al-Baqarah 2:282).
The jurists have four opinions regarding taking payment for testimony; these are likewise four positions in the school of Aḥmad and others.⁵
- It is absolutely impermissible.
- It is impermissible except in case of need.
- It is permissible unless the testimony becomes indispensable for him.