Al-Sharḥ al-Mumtiʿ - Ibn al-'Uthaymin - (13/415)

This was based on what preceded. Otherwise, today there are means and methods by which the uterus’s freedom from pregnancy can be established without opening the abdomen.

In some circumstances, too, a husband must establish that his wife’s uterus is free from pregnancy even if she has not been intercourse with. For example, a man’s father dies, and his mother subsequently marries another man. Her children from this husband are his maternal siblings. Suppose such a brother dies and has a full brother, while this woman is pregnant with another brother. In this case, we say to her husband: he must establish that her uterus is free from pregnancy, and so he must not have intercourse with her until she menstruates, so that it may be known whether the pregnancy existed when his brother died—in which case he inherits from him—or did not exist, in which case he does not inherit. Here this cannot be known unless the man refrains from intercourse with her, because if he does have intercourse with her, it would be possible that the child was conceived through intercourse after his brother’s death. In that case, a difficulty would arise. Thus, in such a case, establishing the uterus’s freedom from pregnancy is obligatory, even though it involves neither a female slave owned by right of possession, nor intercourse by mistake, nor fornication; rather, it is required in order to determine whether this pregnancy inherits or does not inherit.

His statement, “Whoever comes into possession of a female slave with whom intercourse is possible”: this refers to a slave girl who has reached nine years of age.

His statement, “Whoever comes into possession”: the word “whoever” is conditional and encompasses every form of ownership, whether he acquires her through purchase, gift, enslavement in war, or otherwise.

His statement, “whether the owner is a minor, an adult male, or the opposite of either, intercourse with her is forbidden to him”: the prepositional phrase is connected to “comes into possession,” because the discussion concerns the owner; he is the one who

هذا بناء على ما سبق، وإلا فالآن توفرت الأسباب والوسائل التي يعلم بها براءة الرحم بدون شق البطن. أيضاً في بعض الأحوال يجب على الزوج أن يستبرئ زوجته وإن لم توطأ، كرجل مات أبوه وتزوجت أمه بعد أبيه بزوج، فأولادها من هذا الزوج يكونون بالنسبة له إخوة له من الأم، فهذا الأخ مات وله أخ شقيق، والأخ الذي تحمل به هذه المرأة، ففي هذه الحال نقول لزوجها: يجب عليك أن تستبرئها، فلا تجامعها حتى تحيض؛ لأجل أن نعرف هل كان الحمل موجوداً حين موت أخيه فيرث منه، أو ليس موجوداً فلا يرث، وهنا لا نعلم إلا إذا امتنع الرجل عن الجماع؛ لأنه لو جامع لاحتمل أن يعلق الولد من جماعه الذي بعد موت أخيه، وحينئذٍ يكون عندنا إشكال، ففي مثل هذه الحال يجب الاستبراء مع أنه ليس في ملك يمين، ولا في وطء شبهة، ولا في زنا، لكن لأجل الوصول إلى معرفة هل يرث هذا الحمل، أو لا يرث؟ قوله: «من ملك أمة يوطأ مثلها» وهي التي تم لها تسع سنين. وقوله: «من ملك» «من» شرطية تعم جميع أنواع الملك، سواء ملكها بشراء، أو بهبة، أو باسترقاق في حرب، أو غير ذلك. قوله: «من صغير وذكر وضدهما حرم عليه وطؤها» الجار والمجرور متعلق بـ «ملك»؛ لأن الكلام في المالك، فهو الذي