in discussing it.

However, at the end he concluded that a neighbour has no right to prevent his neighbour from placing [a beam upon his wall]. He said (pp. 796–797):

“By persisting in what Allah has forbidden him in this matter, he is disobedient to Allah and in violation of the prohibition of His Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him. Yet this does not constitute a right belonging to his neighbour, who has been prevented from it, such that judges are required to rule against the one who prevents him, whether he likes it or resents it.”

I say: The conclusion reached by Imam al-Tabari is correct, Allah willing, except for what he said concerning judges. In my view, this should be left to the Sharia judiciary, to decide according to what is appropriate to the circumstances and the time. For some people have reached an intolerable degree of selfishness and high-handedness in preventing others from making use of property, owing to man-made laws founded upon material interests rather than moral principles.

A trustworthy person told me that, when he was preparing to build his house on his own land, he placed the building materials on an adjacent vacant plot. Its owner prevented him from doing so, and the law supported him in this. The builder was unable to continue construction until he paid that unjust and greedy man enough dinars to silence him and induce him to withdraw the lawsuit he had brought against the builder—even though he was among the wealthiest of people. Allah has spoken the truth:

“No! Indeed, man surely transgresses when he considers himself self-sufficient.”

Nothing will deter such a tyrant except what the Ansar did to someone like him. Al-Bayhaqi narrated in his Sunan (6/69), through Ishaq ibn Ibrahim al-Hanzali, with his authentic chain of transmission to Yahya ibn Juʿdah—a trustworthy Successor—who said: A man in Medina wanted to place a beam upon his neighbour’s wall without his permission, but the neighbour prevented him. Then whichever of the Ansar you wished would narrate from the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, that he had forbidden him from preventing him. So he was compelled to allow it.

In the route to Ishaq—who was Ibn Rahawayh—there is al-Bayhaqi’s shaykh, Abu ʿAbd al-Rahman al-Sulami, concerning whom there has been much criticism. If he was corroborated, then the report is authentic, and this appears to be indicated by the practice of—