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Asking permission before using other’s belongings

Answered as per Shafi'i Fiqh by Qibla.com

Answered by Shaykh Amjad Rasheed

I live in the university dorm with a Muslim brother. Do we have to ask one another for permission for eating food belonging to the other that is in the refrigerator? What are the boundaries of the permissibility?

Answer:
In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful

The guiding principle in our school for using the belongings of others is as follows:

1. If the owner gives one permission to use what he owns; or if one is confident that the owner will give his consent, then it is permissible to use it.

2. Otherwise it is not permissible.

3. If one doubts that the owner will give his consent, it is not permissible to use his belongings.

It is obvious that one may consent to another using some of one’s belongings and not others. It is obligatory for the one wanting to use it to infer that from the state of its owner, because the default is unlawfulness of its use.

Amjad Rasheed

(Translated by Lida Kahi)

السؤال: أعيشُ في سكن الجامعة مع أخٍ مسلمٍ ، فهل علينا أن نستأذن بعضَنا لتناول أشياء للشخص الثاني من الثلاجة ؟ ما ثمّ حدودُ الجواز ؟ الجواب : القاعدةُ عندنا في استعمال أشياء الغير هي : أنه إذا أذن المالك لغيره باستعمال الأشياء التي يملكها أو ظنَّ الشخصُ رضا المالك بذلك جاز استعمالُها وإلا فلا ، فلو شكَّ الشخصُ في رضا المالك لم يجز استعمالُ حاجاته . ولا يخفى أنَّ الشخصَ قد يرضى لغيره باستعمال بعض أشيائه دون بعض فيجب على مَن أراد استعمالها تحرِّي ذلك من حال صاحبه ؛ لأن الأصل حرمةُ الاستعمال .

This answer was indexed from Qibla.com, which used to have a repository of Islamic Q&A answered by various scholars. The website is no longer in existence. It has now been transformed into a learning portal with paid Islamic course offering under the brand of Kiflayn.

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