Majmu' al-Fatawa - Ibn Taimiya - (32/174)

Majmu' al-FatawaIbn Taimiya

Chapter: Marriage among Disbelievers

Shaykh al-Islām—may Allah have mercy on him—was asked:

What is the meaning of the Prophet’s statement, may Allah bless him and grant him peace: “I was born of marriage, not fornication”?

He replied:

Praise be to Allah. This hadith is well known among the reports that ‘Alī ibn al-Husayn—may Allah be pleased with them both—and others attributed directly to the Prophet without naming a Companion. Its wording is:

“I was born of marriage, not fornication. None of the marriage practices of the pre-Islamic age of ignorance touched my lineage.”

Their marriage practices during the pre-Islamic age of ignorance took various forms.

He—may Allah have mercy on him—was also asked:

Were marriages contracted before the messengers were sent valid or not?

He replied:

(*)
Their marriage practices during the pre-Islamic age of ignorance took various forms, including the form of marriage practised today. According to the majority of scholars, that form of marriage was valid during the pre-Islamic age of ignorance. The same applies to all other marriages among polytheists that are not prohibited in Islam. The legal consequences of a valid marriage apply to them, including inheritance, oaths to abstain from marital intercourse, mutual imprecation, declarations likening one’s wife to a permanently forbidden female relative, and other matters.

It is reported that Mālik said: “Marriage among polytheists is not valid.” What he means by this is that if a divorce were pronounced

(*) Shaykh Nāsir ibn Hamad al-Fahd stated (p. 233): The second fatwa is, in fact, a continuation of the first; they constitute a single, continuous fatwa. It appears to me—and Allah knows best—that the second question was inserted by the copyist, for three reasons: First: the context clearly indicates this, since the first fatwa does not answer the question. Second: the beginning of the answer to the second question continues the Shaykh’s preceding words. Third: in the second fatwa, the Shaykh—may Allah have mercy on him—states: “People have cited this hadith as evidence that marriage in the pre-Islamic period is valid.” Yet the second fatwa contains no hadith to which this statement could refer; rather, the hadith is mentioned in the preceding question. Accordingly, the text should be corrected by deleting the question and joining its answer to the first answer. Allah Most High knows best.

بَابٌ نِكَاحُ الْكُفَّارِ وَسُئِلَ شَيْخُ الْإِسْلَامِ - رَحِمَهُ اللَّهُ -: عَنْ قَوْلِهِ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ {وُلِدْت مِنْ نِكَاحٍ؛ لَا مِنْ سِفَاحٍ} مَا مَعْنَاهُ؟ فَأَجَابَ: الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ، الْحَدِيثُ مَعْرُوفٌ مِنْ مَرَاسِيلِ عَلِيِّ بْنِ الْحُسَيْنِ - رَضِيَ اللَّهُ عَنْهُمَا - وَغَيْرِهِ. وَلَفْظُهُ: {وُلِدْت مِنْ نِكَاحٍ لَا مِنْ سِفَاحٍ لَمْ يُصِبْنِي مِنْ نِكَاحِ الْجَاهِلِيَّةِ شَيْءٌ} فَكَانَتْ مَنَاكِحُهُمْ فِي الْجَاهِلِيَّةِ عَلَى أَنْحَاءٍ مُتَعَدِّدَةٍ. وَسُئِلَ - رَحِمَهُ اللَّهُ -: عَنْ النِّكَاحِ قَبْلَ بِعْثَةِ الرُّسُلِ: أَهْوَ صَحِيحٌ أَمْ لَا؟ فَأَجَابَ: (*) كَانَتْ مَنَاكِحُهُمْ فِي الْجَاهِلِيَّةِ عَلَى أَنْحَاءٍ مُتَعَدِّدَةٍ: مِنْهَا نِكَاحُ النَّاسِ الْيَوْمَ. وَذَلِكَ النِّكَاحُ فِي الْجَاهِلِيَّةِ صَحِيحٌ عِنْدَ جُمْهُورِ الْعُلَمَاءِ وَكَذَلِكَ سَائِرُ مَنَاكِحِ أَهْلِ الشِّرْكِ الَّتِي لَا تَحْرُمُ فِي الْإِسْلَامِ وَيَلْحَقُهَا أَحْكَامُ النِّكَاحِ الصَّحِيحِ: مِنْ الْإِرْثِ وَالْإِيلَاءِ وَاللِّعَانِ وَالظِّهَارِ وَغَيْرِ ذَلِكَ. وَحُكِيَ عَنْ مَالِكٍ أَنَّهُ قَالَ: نِكَاحُ أَهْلِ الشِّرْكِ لَيْسَ بِصَحِيحِ. وَمَعْنَى هَذَا عِنْدَهُ: أَنَّهُ لَوْ طَلَّقَ

(*) قال الشيخ ناصر بن حمد الفهد (ص ٢٣٣): الفتوى الثانية في حقيقتها تكملة للفتوى الأولى، فهي فتوى واحدة متصلة، والسؤال الثاني مقحم من الناسخ كما يظهر لي والله أعلم، لثلاثة أمور: الأولى: السياق كما هو ظاهر، فإن الفتوى الأولى لم يجب فيها على السؤال. والثاني: أن بداية الإجابة على السؤال الثاني تكملة لنص الشيخ الذي قبله. والثالث: أن الشيخ رحمه الله ذكر في أثناء الفتوى الثانية قوله (وقد احتج الناس بهذا الحديث على أن نكاح الجاهلية نكاح صحيح)، ولم يرد في الفتوى الثانية أي حديث تعود إليه الإشارة، وإنما الحديث مذكور في السؤال الذي قبله. وعليه، فصحة النص هو: حذف السؤال، وربط جوابه بالجواب الأول، والله تعالى أعلم.