What is the ruling on stealing the water provided by the government in water pipes? And what is the authenticity of the hadith (People are partners in three things)? And what is its jurisprudence?

The questioner : My teacher, stealing water in a country that has a government, which provides water to citizens by laying pipes and other equipment.

The Shaykh : Stealing is not permissible; all theft is forbidden. The people must cooperate with the government as long as it realizes their interests and serves them. It is not permissible to be ungrateful for this blessing, for Allah says: Therefore, all theft is forbidden, and this falls under that, so it is not permissible in Islam.


The questioner : My teacher, the hadith .

The Shaykh : The hadith "People are partners in three things"; this wording is not correct. This is the first point. Second, the water intended here is common water, meaning the water of seas and rivers. That is the meaning. As for water extracted by machine and effort, meaning you are a man who has, for example, an orchard with a motorized machine installed on it that pumps water, and you spend on it gasoline, diesel, and so on, it is not said that people are partners in this water. Rather, the water that Allah created and caused to flow in seas and rivers is that which no individual is allowed to claim ownership of. As for the water that he extracts by his effort, toil, and machine, that is not what is intended by the aforementioned hadith.

The questioner : My teacher, even if there is injustice in this ruling against this people, in terms of raising prices, even for things other than water.

The Shaykh : Individuals are not the ones who determine injustice, and the matter is relative. Suppose there is injustice, and of course, no government or state that does not rule by what Allah has revealed is free from it. But this does not mean that the situation becomes chaos and every individual looks through his own lens, saying, "This is injustice, so I will not pay it." In that case, corruption will increase on earth due to people committing such crude opinions, for which there is no evidence except following desires. Enough, just look at your work.