If they resided in a single house, and each one was in a room with a door and a lock, it is referred back to his intention regarding his oath or its cause, and what the circumstances indicated regarding the house he swore to avoid co-residing in. If all of this is absent, he violates the oath. This is the opinion of Malik. Al-Shafi'i said: If the house is small, then they are co-residents, because a small house is a single dwelling. If it is large, but one of them is in a room and the other is in a vestibule, or they are both in two vestibules or two rooms without either one having a lock excluding the other, they are co-residents. If they are in two rooms, each of which has a lock, or they are in an inn (khan), they are not co-residents, because each of them is isolated in his dwelling apart from the other, thus they are like neighbors. Our position is that they are in one house, so they are co-residents, like the small house, and they are distinct from neighbors in two houses, for they are not co-residents, and his oath is upon the negation of co-residency, not upon proximity. If they were in one house at the time of the oath, then one of them moved out of it, and they partitioned it into two chambers, and they opened a door for each of them, and there was a barrier between them, and then each of them resided in a chamber, he does not violate the oath, because they are not co-residents. If they were occupied with building the barrier between them while they were co-residents, he violates the oath, because they were co-residents before the separation of one house from the other. This is the opinion of Al-Shafi'i, and we know of no disagreement regarding it.

Section: If he swore: 'I will not co-reside with so-and-so in this house,' then they partitioned it into two chambers, and they built a wall between them, and each of them opened a door for himself, then they resided in them, he does not violate the oath, as we mentioned in the case preceding this. This is the opinion of Al-Shafi'i, Ibn al-Mundhir, Abu Thawr, and the People of Opinion (Ashab al-Ra'y). Malik said: 'I do not like that.' The analogy of the school allows it, because it is the essence of the house, and it does not dissolve by its alteration, just as if he swore not to enter it and it became an open space. The first view is more correct, because he did not co-reside with him in it.