the two dwellings, and one of them wishes to rebuild it while the other refuses, Malik has two opinions. According to the first, the one who refuses may be compelled to rebuild together with his partner. According to the second, he is not compelled; instead, they divide the ground on which the wall stood and its rubble between them, after which either of them may rebuild for himself alone. This second view is the one applied in our practice, yet whoever issues a fatwa or passes judgment according to the first incurs no blame.
Suppose two men jointly own a house, while one of them has, next to it, another house that belongs to him alone. If he wants to open a doorway from the jointly owned house into his private house, his partner may prevent him, for the wall in which the doorway would be made is common property. However, if he opens the doorway in the wall of his own house in order to enter the shared house, that is permissible. Ibn al-Mawwāz reports this.
If a well is jointly owned by two people and it caves in and collapses, both of them are responsible for repairing it. Should one of them wish to repair it while the other refuses, Malik again has two opinions just as he did regarding a shared wall. If, prior to that, one of them had already spent money on the well, he is entitled to enjoy the benefit proportionate to what he spent.
Anyone who plants or sows on land he does not own cannot compel his neighbor to divert to him any surplus water after the neighbor has taken what he needs for drinking. The only person who may obtain such a ruling is someone who planted or sowed crops served by his own well or spring, after which the well collapsed and the spring ran dry. If his neighbor’s well contains water in excess of the neighbor’s drinking needs, the judge obliges that neighbor to allow him to channel the surplus water—without payment—until he repairs his well, lest his crops perish, in accordance with the Prophet’s statement, “Do not withhold the soak of a well.” It has also been reported from Malik that this—