Mishkat al-Masabih

One day God's Messenger visited me looking pleased and asked if I was not surprised to hear that Mujazziz al-Mudlijl1 had entered, and seeing Usama and Zaid2 with a rug over them covering their heads and letting their feet appear, said, “These feet are related.” (Bukhari and Muslim.) 1. Members of the tribe of Mudlij were said to have a reputation for being able to trace relationship from physical features. 2. Usama was Zaid's son.

Sa‘d b. Abu Waqqas and Abu Bakra reported God’s Messenger as saying, "If anyone knowingly claims as father one who is not his father, paradise is forbidden to him.” (Bukhari and Muslim.)

‘Abu Huraira reported God’s Messenger as saying, "Do not turn against your fathers, for he who turns against his father has become an infidel.” (Bukhari and Muslim.)

"Any woman who brings into a family one who does not belong to it can expect no mercy from God (or is no observer of God’s religion) and God will not bring her into His paradise; and God will veil Himself from any man who disowns his child when he looks at him, and shame him in the presence of all creatures, first and last.” Abu Dawud, Nasa'i and Darimi transmitted it. 1. Al-Qur’an 24:6

Ibn ‘Abbas told of a man coming to the Prophet and saying, “I have a wife who rejects no one who wishes intercourse with her,” but when he told him to divorce her he replied that he loved her, so he told him that in that case he should keep her. Abu Dawud and Nasa’i transmitted it, Nasa’i saying that one of the transmitters traced it to Ibn ‘Abbas and that one did not, adding that this tradition is not well established.

The Prophet decided regarding one who is treated as a member of a family after the death of his father to whom he is attributed when the heirs say he is one of them, that if he is the child of a slave woman whom the father owned when he had intercourse with her he is included among those who seek his inclusion, but gets none of the inheritance which was previously divided;* he however gets his portion of the inheritance which has not already been divided, but if the father to whom he is attributed had disowned him he is not joined to the heirs. If he is the child of a slave woman whom the father did not possess or of a freewoman with whom he had illicit intercourse, he is not joined to the heirs and does not inherit even if the one to whom he is attributed is the one who claims paternity, for he is a child of fornication whether his mother was free or a slave. Abu Dawud transmitted it. *Mirqat 3:506 explains this as a reference to what had happened in the pre-Islamic period.

Jabir b. ‘Atik reported God’s prophet as saying, ‘‘There is jealousy which God loves and jealousy which God hates. That which He loves is jealousy regarding a matter of doubt, and that which He hates is jealousy regarding something which is not doubtful. There is pride which God hates and pride which God loves. That which He loves is a man’s pride when fighting and when giving sadaqa, and that which God hates is pride shown by boasting.” A version has “by oppression.” Ahmad, Abu Dawud and Nasa’i transmitted it.

‘Amr b. Shu'aib, on his father’s authority, said that his grandfather told of a man who got up and said, “Messenger of God, so and so is my son; I had illicit intercourse with his mother in the pre-Islamic period.” God’s Messenger replied, “There is no unlawful claiming of paternity in Islam. What was done in pre-Islamic times has been annulled. The child is attributed to the one on whose bed it is born, and the fornicator is deprived of any right.” Abu Dawud transmitted it.

* a Christian woman married to a Muslim, a Jewess married to a Muslim, a freewoman married to a slave, and a slave woman married to a freeman.” *That is the mutual invoking of curses with which this chapter deals. Ibn Majah transmitted it.

Ibn ‘Abbas said that when the Prophet ordered a man and wife to invoke curses regarding one another, he ordered a man to put his hand on his mouth when he came to the fifth utterance, saying that it would be the deciding one. Nasa’i transmitted it.

‘A'isha said that once when God’s Messenger went out from her during the night she was jealous regarding him. Then when he came and saw what she was doing he said, “What is the matter with you, ‘A'isha? Are you jealous?” She replied, “Why should one like me not be jealous regarding one like you?” He said, “Your devil has come to you.” She asked, “Messenger of God, have I a devil?” He told her that she had, and when she asked him whether he had one he replied, “Yes, but God has helped me against him so that I may be safe.” Muslim transmitted it.

Abu Salama was told by Fatima daughter of Qais that Abu ‘Amr b. Hafs divorced her absolutely when he was away from home, and his agent sent her some barley. She was displeased with it, and when he said, “I swear by God that you have no claim on us,” she went to God’s Messenger and mentioned that to him. Saying that she was due no maintenance, he ordered her to spend the period before she could remarry in the house of Umm Sharik, but said afterwards, “That is a woman whom my companions visit; spend the period in the house of Ibn Umm Maktum, for he is blind and you can undress. Then when you are in a position to be remarried, tell me." She said that when she was in a position to remarry she mentioned to him that Mu'awiya b. Abu Sufyan and Abu Jahm had asked her in marriage, and he replied, “As for Abu Jahm, he does not put down his stick from his shoulder, and as for Mu'awiya, he is a poor man who has no property; marry Usama b. Zaid." She objected to him, but he said, “Marry Usama," so she married him, God prospered him, and she was envied. A version on her authority has, “As for Abu Jahm, he is a man who is given to beating women." In a version it says that her husband divorced her three times and that when she went to the Prophet he said, “You are due no maintenance unless you are pregnant." Muslim transmitted it.

'A'isha said that Fatima was in a lonely place and fear was entertained regarding the district where she was, so the Prophet gave her permission, i.e., to remove. In a version she asked what was the matter with Fatima and whether she did not fear God, i.e., with reference to her saying that she had no place to live and no maintenance. Bukhari transmitted it.

Sa'id b. al-Musayyib said that Fatima was removed simply because she had so much to say against her husband’s relatives. It is transmitted in Sharh as-sunna.

My maternal aunt was divorced by three utterances of the divorce and wanted to cut down fruit from her palm-trees, but a man forbade her to go out, so she went to the Prophet and he said, “Certainly, cut down fruit from your palm-trees, for perhaps you may give sadaqa or do an act of kindness.” Muslim transmitted it.

Al-Miswar b. Makhrama said that some nights after her husband’s death Subai’a al-Aslamiya gave birth to a child. Then she went to the Prophet and asked permission to marry. He gave her permission and she married. Bukhari transmitted it.

"Messenger of God, my daughter’s husband has died and her eye is troubling her, so may we apply collyrium to it?” He said “No” twice or thrice, saying only “No” all the time. Then he said, “It is only four months and ten days, whereas in the pre-Islamic period none of you threw away the piece of dung till a year had passed.”* * The reference is to a pre-Islamic custom by which a widow threw a piece of dung when her idda period came to an end. Cf. Lane, Lexicon and Taj al-'arus; Mirqat, 3:513 f. (Bukhari and Muslim.)

Umm Habiba and Zainab daughter of Jahsh reported God’s Messenger as saying, “It is not lawful for a woman who believes in God and the last day to observe mourning for one who has died more than three nights, except for the four months and ten days in the case of a husband.” (Bukhari and Muslim.)

Umm 'Atiya reported God’? Messenger as saying, “A woman must not observe mourning for one who has died more than three nights, except for the four months and ten days in the case of a husband, and she must not wear a dyed garment except one of the type made of dyed yarn,1 or apply collyrium, or touch perfume except for a little costus or azfar2 when she has been purified after her courses.” 1. ‘Asb. This word is applied to a type of Yemen garment which was made of cloth which was dyed before being woven. 2. A certain odoriferous substance resembling finger-nails, used in incense. (Bukhari and Muslim.) Abu Dawud added, “or apply henna.”

Zainab daughter of Ka‘b said that al-Furai‘a daughter of Malik b. Sinan and sister of Abu Sa'id al-Khudri informed her that she went to God’s Messenger and asked to be allowed to return to her people among the B. Khudra, for her husband had gone out in search of some slaves of his who had run away and they had killed him. She said she asked God's Messenger to be allowed to return to her people, for her husband had not left her in a house which belonged to him, nor had he left any maintenance and that when he agreed she went away, but when she was in the courtyard (or in the mosque) he called her and said, “Stay in your house till the prescribed period is ended.” She said that she observed the period in it for four months and ten days. Malik, Tirmidhi, Abu Dawud, Nasa’i,. Ibn Majah and Darimi transmitted it.