973 – Al-Mughīrah ibn Shuʿbah (may Allah be pleased with him) reported that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, “The wife of a missing man remains his wife until clear evidence reaches her.” Al-Dāraquṭnī recorded it with a weak chain of transmission. (1)
Hadith grading:
The report is weak. The author remarks: “Al-Dāraquṭnī transmitted it with a weak isnād.” Ibn Ḥajar states in al-Talkhīṣ: “Al-Bayhaqī also narrated it with a weak chain, and it was deemed weak by Abū Ḥātim, al-Bayhaqī, ʿAbd al-Ḥaqq, Ibn al-Qaṭṭān, and others. Because of its pronounced weakness, the critical scholars did not adopt it as evidence.”
Key vocabulary:
– al-mafqūd (the missing person): The verb faqada–yafqidu means “to be absent and no longer found”; thus a man who has disappeared is called faqīd or mafqūd.
– al-bayān (clarification): Bāna–yabīnu–bayānan means “to become manifest.” Here it denotes that she waits until it becomes clear whether he is alive or dead, and then acts according to what is established.
Points derived from the two reports:
- If a man disappears from his family and no trace of him is found, the jurists classify the case in two ways. The first scenario is when the prevailing circumstances of his absence suggest safety—such as travel for trade, tourism, or the pursuit of knowledge. In this case, the matter is deferred until ninety full years have elapsed from his birth, for ordinarily he will not live beyond that span. This is the well-known position in the school of Imam Aḥmad, and it is among