Chapter on Loans for Use

Shaykh al-Islām—may Allah have mercy on him—was asked:

A man borrowed a horse from another man to ride to Bāb al-Nasr. The borrower stipulated that he would ride it no farther than Bāb al-Nasr and return immediately. Instead, he rode it to Birkat al-Hujjāj and did not return until after the ‘Asr prayer. The horse suffered an injury, and its owner sold it for half its value. Must the borrower pay half the loss in value?

He replied:

Yes. If he exceeded the use permitted by its owner, he is a wrongdoer and is liable for any damage caused by his transgression. He is therefore liable for whatever reduction in the horse’s value resulted from this wrongdoing, by agreement of the imams.