Analogically speaking, he was merely exercising a right that belonged to him.
If someone seats a child on an animal—whether to water it or to steady it—and the animal then tramples a man and kills him, the full blood-money is due from the child’s agnatic kin-group (ʿāqila); none of it may be reclaimed from the kin of the deceased.
According to the analogical rendering of Mālik’s view, as transmitted by his companions, when a man seizes a child unlawfully and the child dies in his custody through an act of God, without any action on the man’s part, the usurper incurs no liability.
Should a person, within the open space of his own property, dig a well, install a latrine, set up a camp, or the like—something he is legally entitled to construct—and someone is harmed or killed because of it, he is not liable. Anything of that kind that he erects where he has no right to do so, however, makes him answerable for every injury it causes. Thus, if a wall is leaning and its owner has been warned about it or testimony has been given against him, he is thereafter liable for any damage it inflicts.
If someone startles a man who is standing on a wall or similar place, and the man falls to his death, nothing is owed.
Should an intruder peep at a group of people, or at a man in his house, and the occupant blinds him with a pebble or a stick, retaliation (qiṣāṣ) is required according to Mālik and his associates.
Whoever injures an animal must pay for the diminution in its value; if he kills it, he must pay its full worth, whatever the amount.
If a person unlawfully handles another’s mount and, in the process, cuts off its ear, its tail, or any other prominent feature in an egregious way—and the animal is one kept for riding or display—two opinions are reported from Mālik. One is that the offender must pay whatever reduction in price the mutilation causes, no matter how great. The other is that the owner may choose either to take the animal’s full value and leave the mutilated beast with the offender, or to keep the animal as it is and receive the corresponding compensation for the injury.