Daily Hadith

DAILY HADITH

The Muslims are partners in three, water, pastures and fire

Oil, Water and Pastures are the whole Ummah’s resources

الْمُسْلِمُونَ شُرَكَاءُ فِى ثَلاَثٍ الْمَاءِ وَالْكَلإِ وَالنَّارِ

The Muslims are partners in three, water, pastures and fire

(Ahmed, ibn Maja)

ثلاث لايمنعن الماء و الكلأ و النار

Three are not prevented – water, pastures and fire

(ibn Maja)

Commentary

a. According to the Shafi, Maliki and Hanbali schools what is intended by water that the people share and therefore cannot buy and sell is the rain water, river water and the like, and not water from private sources such as a private well. The pastures are the open areas of land which are not owned by anyone, or land which is not being used for agriculture and has the normal vegetation for grazing cattle. Fire indicates any natural resources which are used to produce heat and energy, such as wood, coal and oil.

b. Other narrations also indicate that people can possess and sell water as long as the community was not in dire need of it.

c. It can be derived from these narrations that whatever the community is in need of must be provided and cannot be withheld privately to the disadvantage of the people. So the state is responsible to provide the people with access to water and energy as required to fulfill their needs, and all public utilities as necessitated by the time and place.

d. It is therefore not permissible to adopt the model of liberal privatization whereby even the essential public utilities are sold to private companies and are therefore not available except to those who pay for them, leading to a society where only those with material wealth can access vital services.