Section: Ahmad said, regarding a group of people who partitioned a house, and some of them obtained an increase in cubits, while others obtained a decrease, then they sold the house altogether: The house shall be divided among them according to the number of cubits. This means that the price is divided among them according to the extent of their ownership in it, and this is interpreted as the increase in one of them's cubits being like the increase in his ownership within it. For example, if one of them has two-fifths, and he obtains forty cubits, and the other has three-fifths, and he obtains sixty, then the price shall be divided between them in fifths according to the extent of their ownership in the house. As for if the increase in cubits was due to the poor quality of what its owner took—such as a house that is between them in halves, and one of them took from its good portion forty cubits, and the other took from its poor portion sixty cubits—then it is not appropriate for the price to be divided according to the number of cubits, rather it should be divided between them in halves, because the sixty here are equivalent to the forty, and thus they are made equivalent in the price. And Allah knows best. Ahmad said, regarding a group of people who partitioned a house that had four rooftops upon which water flows, and when they partitioned it, one of them wanted to prevent the flow of water of the other over it, and said: "This is something that has become mine." He said: If there was a condition between them that he would turn back the water, he may do so; but if it was not stipulated, he may not prevent it. The reasoning for this is that they partitioned the house and made it general/unrestricted, so that implies that each one of them owns his share along with its rights, just as if he had purchased it with its rights; and among its rights is the flow of its water into a channel to which it customarily flowed, which is on the surface of the one preventing it. Therefore, he is entitled to it in the case of unrestricted partition. If they stipulated its diversion, then the condition is more binding, for the believers are bound by their conditions. Abu al-Khattab said: If they partition a house, and the access road ends up in the share of one of them, and the share of the other has an exit from which he can take access, then it is valid; otherwise, the partition is void. This is because partition implies equity, and a share that has no road to it has no value, or only a small value, so equity is not achieved. Furthermore, because it is a condition for the compulsion to partition that what each of them takes can be utilized, and here the recipient cannot utilize it. If he took it willingly, knowing that it had no road, it is valid; because partition by mutual consent is a sale, and purchasing it in this manner is permissible. The analogy for the issue preceding this is that the road remains as it is in the share of the other, as long as he did not stipulate its diversion, like the flow of water. And Allah knows best.

Section: He said: The father and the executor [wasi] have the authority to partition the minor's property with his partner; because partition is either a setting apart of a right or a sale, and both are permissible for them. Also, because there is a benefit for the child in the partition, so it is permissible, just as purchasing for him is. It is permissible for them to conduct a partition by mutual consent without an increase in the consideration, because it involves warding off the harm of partnership, so it resembles the case if he sold it due to the harm of the need to pay a debt or the need for maintenance.