al-Sharif Abu Ja'far and Abu al-Khattab mentioned that judgment may be passed against an absent party who is obstinate. This is the school of al-Shafi'i, because his attendance and questioning became impossible, so it is permissible to pass judgment against him, like the far-away absent party. In fact, this is more appropriate, because the distant party is excused, while this one has no excuse. We have previously mentioned something regarding this.

1879 - Issue: He said: (And if two partners come to him regarding real estate or the like, and ask him to divide it between them, he shall divide it, and he shall state in the judicial record regarding that, that his division of it between them was based upon their acknowledgment, not upon evidence that testified for them regarding their ownership).

The basis for division (partition) is the saying of Allah the Almighty: "And inform them that the water is to be shared between them; each share of water will be attended" [Al-Qamar: 28], and His saying: "And when the [other] relatives and orphans and the needy are present at the division" [Al-Nisa: 8], the verse. And the saying of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him): "Preemption (shuf'a) applies to what has not been divided, but when the boundaries are fixed and the paths are designated, there is no preemption." The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) divided Khaybar into eighteen shares, and he used to divide the spoils of war. The community is in consensus on the permissibility of division, and because people have a need for division so that each of the partners may be able to dispose of his share as he chooses, and to get rid of the harm of partnership and the multiplicity of hands. If this is established, [then the two partners in whatever] it may be, real estate or other than it—and real estate is the property consisting of houses and the like—if they request the judge to divide it between them, he shall grant their request, even if their ownership is not established before him.