Overall meaning:
The Prophet ﷺ identifies those instances where damage occurs outside a person’s power, intent, or negligence, and makes clear that no liability attaches to him for such loss.

Thus, if a domestic animal whose owner has neither been negligent nor is directly handling it strays and destroys crops or injures someone—whether by biting, striking with its foreleg, or kicking with its hind leg—no compensation is due.

Likewise, if a person instructs another—without coercing or deceiving him—to descend into a well or perform a task, the one who gave the order bears no liability, because he has committed neither aggression nor negligence.

By contrast, when he compels the other, or when he knows the activity is dangerous yet lures him into it without informing him, he is liable.

The ḥadith then states that whoever discovers a buried treasure, whether little or much, must pay one-fifth of it, for he obtained it without effort or cost. In gratitude to Allah and in solidarity with his Muslim brethren, he must give that fifth, for it resembles fayʾ—property taken from non-Muslims without fighting or expense. Thus the Sharīʿah manifests its justice and fairness, scaling the zakat due according to the labour, hardship, and expense involved.

Points derived from the ḥadith

1. No liability falls on the owner of an animal if he is not actively handling it or if he has not released it by night. Should he cause the damage himself, or let it loose at night so that it destroys people’s crops, he is liable. The jurists have limited the apparently absolute wording of the ḥadith by other proofs that impose liability on the one who causes the harm; this is the majority position. Ibn Daqīq al-ʿĪd reports the scholarly disagreement on the scope of non-compensable loss and concludes that an animal’s misdeed is non-compensable so long as there is no negligence on the part of its owner or custodian, saying that the ḥadith must be understood on this basis.
2. There is no liability for loss incurred in a person’s well or mine if the one who descends or works there has not been coerced and has not been misled about any danger. If someone forces another to go down a well, climb a tree, or the like; or if he does not coerce him but fails to warn him of a known danger, he is liable, for the damage arose from his coercion or deception.
3. One-fifth must be given from whatever treasure is found, be the amount small or large.
4. Some scholars restrict this ruling to treasure bearing the markings of non-Muslims and dating to the pre-Islamic era. Al-Ṣanʿānī adds a second condition: that it be discovered in unowned wasteland or in land the finder has brought to life. If it is unearthed in already-owned land, it is not rikāz but luqṭah (lost property).