As-salamu-alaikum Mufti,Our house alhamdulilah has a permanent underground water source(Bore well) along with the city water supply lines which is not regular(available only for 3 days 5-6 hours only).Hence through both sources we can meet the water requirements which is to be shared with 3 of our tenants(say about 20 people) also the same situation of our brother in law’s house. Problem is our immediate neighbor who happens to be also the neighbor of our brother in law(since their house is in middle between two of us),they does not have the bore well water and they find difficulty to meet their daily water requirement, so they happen to take water from these 2 houses,alternatively,but from few months they started to fill their sump/tanks(huge,about 1000L)and pump water to meet all their 2 floors without our consent, and when enquired became very abusive towards our father in law who stays with us there and telling us we cannot say no to water, but we never mind when giving them few buckets, but cannot always allow to full their huge sump/tank to meet their entire household demand say for about 15 people, because if done on daily basis then we ourselves will face scarcity to meet our water requirements. Pls advice us how to handle this situation in view of neighbor’s right as per Islamic sharia amicably...

All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad is His slave and Messenger.

The scholars call such water which is found in the well on your property ‘owned/safeguarded water’. This water belongs to you and it is not permissible for anyone to dispose of it without your permission. Some scholars reported a consensus of the scholars about this issue.

The Kuwaiti Fiqh Encyclopedia reads: "Type number four: Water owned/safeguarded in vessels and containers. This type of water is a property of the person who owns it according to the agreement of the jurists and no one has right to it, because even though the water is jointly shared in principle, what is jointly shared can be (individually) owned by possessing it, …. The custom in all Muslim countries and over all centuries was that water sellers sold owned water in containers without any one denying it, so it is not permissible for anybody to take it without the permission of the person who owned/safeguarded it, unless he fears death."

Therefore, the general statement that you cannot say no to water (i.e. you have no right to object to people taking the water) is not correct. The texts which prohibit taking the surplus water is in respect to the water in wells which are dug in deserts and the like, so if one drills such a well he benefits from it first, and then people would take what is in surplus, and the digger of the well should not stop them from taking the water.

Since those people are your neighbors, then you should try to reach mutual understanding with them in a wise manner for the sake of preserving good relationships with neighbors. Also, you may seek the help of some rational people in order to achieve this mutual understanding. For more benefit on the rights of the neighbor in Islam, please refer to Fatwa 85376.

Allaah Knows best.