regarding what will be discussed in the following section, God willing.
If the joint ownership concerns a single garment, a ship, an animal, a slave, or any other item that cannot be physically divided, and the partners have not agreed to make joint, undivided use of it (ishāʿa), then when one partner wishes to sell and the other refuses, the one who refuses is compelled to sell. He is told, “Either sell it, or buy out your partners’ shares for whatever price they would fetch.” Should he refuse both options, he is forced to sell so that the price can be realised and divided between them.
If the property consists of several slaves or several garments, it is apportioned by drawing lots and valuation, provided it can be divided in accordance with the smallest partner’s share. Any property that cannot legally be divided may not be allotted by lot, whereas whatever may be divided may likewise be assigned by lot without objection.
Ibn al-Qāsim said: If the property to be divided is a single, self-contained house with only one door, and that door falls—by allotment—into the share of one partner, the remaining partners still have the right to enter and exit through it, whether or not this was expressly stipulated. If any partner stipulates that he shall have no passage through that door, the matter is examined: when he owns a courtyard into which another door can be opened, the condition is valid; otherwise, it is void.
If, in the division, the upper storey is allotted to one partner, the owner of the lower storey may not impose a condition denying the upper-storey owner a right of way through the lower premises—unless the upper owner has no alternative route.
Likewise, if those who own the inner chambers divide them and then wish to open additional doors in their dwellings, they may not do so, for they own only the right of passage and nothing beyond that. Nor may the owner of the outer chamber move its door to a more distant place, except to a nearby spot that causes no harm to those who use the passageway.
When male date-palms are growing in the party-wall, they are left in place so that their pollen can be used to fertilise the owners’ palms, even if that wall itself has not yet been divided.