Ruling on damage caused by a domesticated animal to someone's farm
11-5-2014 | IslamWeb
Question:
Asallam alaikum What does Islam says when someones domestic animal destroys someone's farm? Please Thanks
Answer:
All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad 
is His slave and Messenger.
If the animal damages the farm during the day, then its owner is not responsible for the damage, and if the damage is caused during the night, then its owner is responsible for the damage if he was negligent in keeping the animal locked up. This is the view of the majority of the scholars.
Ibn Taymiyyah 
said: “It is confirmed that the Prophet said: “The injuries caused by the animal are without liability.” [Al-Bukhari and Muslim] The scholars agreed on the authenticity of this Hadeeth, and they accepted it and acted in accordance to it.
The animal here refers to cows, sheep and others. This is if the animal grazes in usual pastures and it runs away by day, without any negligence on part of its owner, and then it causes injury to a donkey or damages a farm; its owner is not responsible for the damage that it causes according to the agreement of the Muslim scholars as the owner of these animals was not negligent. But if the animal went out by night, then its owner is responsible for the damage according to most scholars like Maalik, Ash-Shaafi'i and Ahmad. The evidence for this is the story of Sulaymaan (Prophet Solomon 
), the son of Daawood (Prophet David ), when the sheep of certain people pastured at night in the field of other people, and also for the Hadeeth about the camel of Al-Baraa’ ibn 'Aazib 
when it entered an orchard and damaged it, and the Prophet ruled that the owners of livestock were obliged to compensate for the damage that was caused by their animals by night, and he ruled that the owners of orchards should secure their orchards.
Abu Haneefah, Ibn Hazm and others held that the owner of the animal is not responsible for damage caused at night either, and they considered the Hadeeth to be general [“The injuries caused by the animal are without liability”]; and some scholars considered the Hadeeth of the camel of Al-Baraa’ to be weak. However, if its owner committed an act of aggression insofar as he sent his herd into or near someone else's farm, or he made his herd enter the donkey stable without the permission of its owner, and it injured the donkey, then in this case, he is responsible for the damage due to his aggression.” [End of quote]
Besides, Manaar As-Sabeel (a Hanbali book) reads: “The owner of the animal which did not commit an act of aggression is not responsible for the damage of wealth or injury to bodies that it caused by day” as per the Hadeeth: “The injuries caused by the animal are without liability.” [Al-Bukhari and Muslim]
However, a “rider, driver and herd leader who is able to manage it, is responsible for” what it damages with its mouth or legs, as per the Hadeeth of An-Nu'maan ibn Basheer that the Prophet said: “Whoever stops an animal in the streets of Muslims, or in a market of their markets, then whatever it steps on with its legs, he is responsible for it.” [Ad-Daaraqutni] But whatever the animal slightly kicks by its hoof, then its owner is not responsible for it” as per the Hadeeth of Abu Hurayrah that the Prophet said: “The injuries caused by the hoof of the animal are without liability.” [Abu Daawood] This is because the owner of the animal who guides it can prevent it from stepping on something but not from kicking with its hoof.
Besides, its owner ‘is responsible for what it damaged by night if that happened due to his negligence’ as per the Hadeeth of Maalik from Az-Zuhri from Hizaam ibn Muhayyisah that the camel of Al-Baraa’ ibn 'Aazib entered into an orchard and caused damage to it and the Prophet ruled that the owners of the orchards must guard them during the day, and that whatever damage the animals caused by night, their owners must guarantee the damage. Ibn Abdul-Barr said: “Although the Hadeeth is Mursal (a Hadeeth narrated by a Tabi’i [successor of the Prophet’s Companions]), it is a famous Hadeeth and the trustworthy Imaams reported it, and the scholars of Al-Hijaaz accepted it, and because it is the habit of cattle owners to send them to graze during the day, and it is the habit of orchard owners to protect them during the day.” [End of quote]
Allaah Knows best.