• “bayna aktāfikum” (between your shoulders): the word is written with the upper-dotted tāʾ. In some transmissions it is spelled with a nūn. “Aknāf” is the plural of “kanaf” (with open kāf and nūn) and means “side.”
Overall meaning
The neighbor enjoys rights that must be honored. The Prophet ﷺ urged maintaining good relations with one’s neighbor and related that Gabriel kept advising him about the neighbor until he thought the angel might even allot him a share of inheritance, indicating the enormity of the neighbor’s right and the obligation to treat him well.
For that reason, pleasant companionship, upright conduct, and careful observance of mutual rights are required, along with refraining from verbal and physical harm. A person does not truly believe in Allah if his neighbor is not safe from his abuses.
One aspect of good neighborliness is that each neighbor should grant the other benefits that bring him advantage without causing the grantor significant harm. An example is when a neighbor wishes to set a beam into his neighbor’s wall.
If there is no real need, the wall’s owner is recommended to permit it out of consideration for the neighbor’s right.
If the owner of the beam does need it and no harm will befall the wall’s owner, then the latter is obliged to allow this use; should he refuse, the judge may compel him, for the neighbor’s need must be met when it entails no injury to the owner.
If harm would result, or no need exists, one harm is not removed by causing another.
The default with respect to a Muslim’s property is prohibition of use by others. Thus, when Abū Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) grasped the intent of the supreme Lawgiver behind this emphatic sunnah, he objected to people’s neglect of it and threatened to compel them, for Allah has imposed neighborly rights that must be observed and fulfilled.
Benefits drawn from the ḥadith
1- The prohibition against preventing a neighbor from placing a beam on one’s wall when doing so will not harm the wall’s owner and the neighbor needs it.
2- Permission to place the beam is conditioned on two matters: absence of harm to the wall’s owner and the neighbor’s genuine need. Disposal of another’s property is forbidden without his consent, so it is allowed only for the neighbor’s need and disallowed if harm results, for harm is not removed by harm.
3- Does the prohibition here indicate unlawfulness or mere reprehensibility? This will be clarified, Allah willing.
4- Abū Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) understood that the neighbor is duty-bound to grant this concession; accordingly, he denounced their neglect of this sunnah and warned that he would enforce compliance.