Allah is far above anything of this kind.

As for their claim, “This entails harm to the selling co-owner,” the answer is that if he requests partition and the property itself cannot be divided, it is sold. Any co-owner who refuses to sell is compelled to do so, and the proceeds are divided between them.

This is the position of the majority of scholars, including Mālik, Abū Hanīfa, and Ahmad ibn Hanbal. Some Mālikī scholars have stated that there is scholarly consensus on this.

This is supported by the established report in the two Sahīh collections that the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said:

“Whoever emancipates his share in a slave and possesses enough wealth to cover the slave’s price must have the slave fairly valued, without undervaluation or overvaluation. He must then pay his co-owners their shares, and the slave becomes wholly free at his expense. Otherwise, only the share he emancipated becomes free.”

This hadith indicates that a co-owner is entitled to half the value of the whole, not the value of a half-share. For example, if the slave were sold as a whole, he would fetch a thousand dirhams, whereas a half-share in him would fetch less than five hundred dirhams. Yet the co-owner is entitled to half of the thousand.

The same applies to real estate that cannot be divided: the co-owner is entitled to half its value as a whole. Thus, if he requests this, the entire property is sold and he is given his share of the proceeds. In this way, the harm he suffers is removed. This demonstrates the consummate excellence of the revealed law and the benefits it secures for people in this life and the Hereafter. All praise belongs to Allah alone.