Using someone else's internet connection or network

iv got a question, regarding wirless internet.would it be wrong for me to use somebody elses connection,without telling them.As now with wirless on a laptop you can easily connect to some body elses internet(if they dont have it locked)althogh i dont tink it affects then in anyway, but it would still be wrong, wouldnt it to use it?

Walaikum assalam wa rahmatullah,

I pray that this finds you well, and in the best of health and spirits. May Allah grant you all good and success in this life and the next.

The legal basis in the Shariah is that one cannot use another's property without their permission. This permission can be explicit or implicit. In most countries, there is no such implicit permission for strangers to use private internet connections. Rather, it is often against the law and generally considered unethical to do so, as studies show.

When there is no explicit permission to use another's property, a Muslim is religiously-bound to exercise caution--because it is another's property and it is not permitted to take their property without explicit or clear implicit permission.

[al-Bahr al-Ra'iq, 8.209 from Abu al-Layth al-Samarqandi's `Uyun al-Masai'l; al-Fatawa al-Hindiyya, 2.290 from al-Muhit; Ibn Abidin, Radd al-Muhtar, 4.285 (`Ilmiyya ed.) from Sharh al-Wahbaniyya and al-Khaniyya]

The basis of this issue are the words of the Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him and give him peace),

"A Muslim's property is not permitted to take without their permission." [Related by Ahmad, and others]

For further details, see:

One's neighbors' mangoes: to eat or not to eat...

And Allah alone gives success.

Faraz Rabbani