Al-Sharḥ al-Mumtiʿ - Ibn al-'Uthaymin - (13/399)

Al-Sharḥ al-MumtiʿIbn al-'Uthaymin

the Prophet’s saying, peace and blessings be upon him: “It is not lawful for a woman who believes in Allah and the Last Day to travel for three days except with a mahram.” (1) What is intended here is exhortation and encouragement, not a restrictive qualification that excludes all who do not possess the described quality—such that we would say it excludes one who does not believe in Allah and the Last Day.

This is a principle to which one should be attentive: every praiseworthy quality mentioned in a context of warning is intended as exhortation. It is as though he were saying: “If you are truly generous, this cannot possibly come from you. If you believe in Allah and the Last Day, this cannot possibly come from you.”

As for the response to their claim that a non-Muslim is not addressed by the subsidiary rulings of Islam in a manner requiring action, we say: This is correct, but it applies where the right of another person is not involved. Mourning is among the husband’s rights, just as the waiting period is, and it is consequent upon it; therefore, it is obligatory. Hence, if a husband were to compel his dhimmī wife to perform the ritual bath after major impurity, we have previously stated that the stronger view is that he may compel her, just as he may compel her to trim her nails, pluck her underarm hair, and the like, because these are among his rights.

Or a slave woman, or one who is not legally accountable. Mourning is permissible for a woman irrevocably divorced by a living husband, but it is not obligatory upon a revocably divorced woman, a woman who has had intercourse under a mistaken assumption of marriage, through fornication, in an invalid or void marriage, or through ownership of a slave woman, ………

His saying: “Or a slave woman” means that mourning for a husband who has died is binding upon her even if she is a slave woman. She may be a slave woman if her husband is himself a slave, or if he is a free man permitted to marry slave women. In that case, the waiting period and mourning are binding upon her.

If someone were to say: Requiring her to observe mourning causes harm to her master.

The response is that her master has accepted this harm, because by marrying her

(1) Narrated by Muslim in The Book of Hajj, chapter: “A woman’s travel with a mahram for Hajj and other purposes” (1339), on the authority of Abu Hurayrah.

قوله ﷺ: «لا يحل لامرأة تؤمن بالله واليوم الآخر أن تسافر ثلاثة أيام إلا مع ذي محرم» (١)، فالمقصود بهذا الإغراء والحث، وليس قيداً يخرج به ما سوى الموصوف، حتى نقول: إنه يخرج به من لا يؤمن بالله واليوم الآخر. وهذه قاعدة ينبغي أن يتنبه لها الإنسان، فكل وصف محمود ذكر في مقام التحذير فالمقصود به الإغراء، كأنه يقول: إن كنت كريماً حقاً فهذا لا يمكن أن يقع منك، إن كنت مؤمناً بالله واليوم الآخر فهذا لا يمكن أن يقع منك. وأما الجواب عن قولهم: إن غير المسلم لا يخاطب بفروع الإسلام خطاب فعل؛ نقول: هذا صحيح، لكن هذا في غير حق الآدمي، والإحداد من حقوق الزوج كالعدة، فهو تابع لها فلذلك وجب، ولهذا لو أن الزوج أجبر زوجته الذمية على غسل الجنابة، فقد سبق لنا أن القول الراجح أن له إجبارها، كما أنه يجبرها على قص الأظافر، وعلى نتف الإبط وما أشبه ذلك؛ لأن هذه من حقوقه. أَوْ أَمَةً، أَوْ غَيْرَ مُكَلَّفَةٍ، وَيُبَاحُ لِبَائِنٍ مِنْ حَيٍّ، وَلَا يَجِبُ عَلَى رَجْعِيَّةٍ وَمَوْطُوءَةٍ بِشُبْهَةٍ، أَوْ زِناً، أَوْ فِي نِكَاحٍ فَاسِدٍ، أَوْ بَاطِلٍ، أَوْ مِلْكِ يَمِينٍ، ........ قوله: «أو أمة» يعني يلزم الإحداد على المتوفى عنها زوجها ولو كانت أمة، وتكون أمة إذا كان زوجها رقيقاً، أو كان حراً ممن يجوز له نكاح الإماء، فتلزمها العدة والإحداد. فإن قال قائل: في إلزامها بالإحداد ضرر على سيدها. فالجواب: أن هذا الضرر قد التزم به سيدها؛ لأن تزويجه

(١) أخرجه مسلم في الحج/ باب سفر المرأة مع محرم إلى حج وغيره (١٣٣٩) عن أبي هريرة ﵁.