We have farmland in which we plant maize. In the season, the Bedouins’ camels come and cause us much trouble. No wall or anything else holds them back from the crops. We must expend effort, guard, and yet they still sometimes enter. They even have a natural cleverness such that they lie in wait for times of heedlessness, like the end of the night and other times. Some of them are hard to catch after they have eaten the crops and trampled them – they run away.
When we seize some of them, we charge their owner for what they have eaten, and this is called fuqlah, meaning: an estimate of what it has eaten. But we also demand from them more than what was eaten, in the form of gunpowder and other things, in return for our toil, our sleeplessness, and our chasing their camels until we catch them. For their owners, if we do not seize (the camels), will neither come to drive them away from us nor acknowledge that they have eaten (our crops). They are rough Bedouins with whom kindness does not help. Note that if we left (the crops) without guarding them, they would destroy a great deal indeed.
Also, these Bedouins have no right to graze among us. This is an enclosure reserved for us, from which we even prevent their sheep. Next to their land there is a similar enclosure from which they prevent us. We tied up some of their camels, and their owner came. We demanded from him a rifle (bunduq ribākh) as rightful compensation. He stalled and tried to evade paying until one Friday, when we were in the congregational prayer. He went, freed his camel, and drove it off. With this in mind, I direct these questions:
Q1: Is it permissible for us to add an extra fine upon them for our toil, sleeplessness, guarding, and chasing their camels, given that they can lead them away into distant ravines and valleys?
Q2: Are we allowed to tie them up and then charge a daily fee for their tethering, at a reasonable amount – for example, one thousand five hundred (per day) in return for feeding, watering, and watching them?
Q3: This man whom we fined, and who then freed his camel – are we allowed to impose upon him a fine for “disgrace/insult” (ʿayb), because he dared to do that? If he had encountered hot-headed people, it might have led to fighting. Is it permissible to impose what is called a ḥaqq al-ʿayb (right for affront) in tribal custom as a deterrent to him and others from such behavior, or is imposing this “shame-fine” not allowed?
The answer:
1. It is not permissible to add any extra fine beyond the amount of what the camels have eaten and destroyed. If the camel owners persist in failing to guard their camels, and you are unable to stop their misconduct through the tribe, the state, or other means, then it is permissible for you to dig a pit in their path, cover it with straw and earth, in such a way that when a camel steps on it, its foreleg or hind leg falls inside and it is unable to pull it out. You do this on every path the camels take to your crops, and then you leave them until their owners come to rescue them. You are not liable for any compensation in this measure, and you bear no sin.
2. You may tie up the camels, and you must bear the cost of feeding them while they are with you. You may take from their owners only the standard, customary cost of that feeding, and nothing more.
3. You are not allowed to impose upon the one who freed his camel a fine for “disgrace/insult” (ʿayb), and you have no right to punish him. Such measures belong to the authorities (those in charge of public order). The solution is what we have mentioned first: that you set things in their path which will force their owners to guard them out of fear for (the camels).
Source: Min Thimār al-ʿIlm wa al-Ḥikmah vol.2