Ali Ibn Abi Talib - Volume 1 of 2

106 'Ali ibn Abi Thlib in Makkah
3.5.9. Specdying what is general in meaning
What is general in meaning is wording that refers to everything
that the word could mean, without any 1imitati0n.l~~ The ruling
concerning this is that every report that is general in meaning remains
so until another report comes to make it more specific.178 There may
be some reports which limit what is general in meaning to some of
what it means, and that is specifying what is general in meaning.179
A report was narrated from 'Ali (&) which specified the
meaning of a verse that is general in meaning. He (&) was asked
about a man who bad two slave women who were sisters; he had
intercourse with one of them and then he wanted to have intercourse
with the other. 'Ali (&) said: No, not until they both go out of his
possession.'80 It was narrated from Ibn al-Kawwa' that he asked 'Ali
(&,) about marrying two sisters at the same time, and he answered:
One verse forbade it, and another verse allowed it, but my family and
I do not do that.lal What he meant by the verse which forbade it is the
verse, (And two sisters in wedlock at the same time$ (Qur'an 4: 23);
and what he meant by the verse which allowed it is the verse, 4Except
from their wives or [the slaves] that their right hands possess, for then
they are free from blame$ (Qur'an 23: 6). Of these two verses, one is
general in meaning and the other is specific, as it limits the general
meaning of intimacy with slave women (those that their right hands
possess) by specifying that it is not permitted to be intimate with two
sisters at the same time.18z
Another example is when he gave a ruling concerning the
'iddah of a pregnant woman whose husband had died; he stated that
she should take the longer of the two periods as her 'iddah. He said:
Her 'iddah is the longer of the two periods.'83 In other words, he gave
a specific meaning to the general meaning of the verses, $And those
of you who die and leave wives behind them, they [the wives] shall
wait [as regards their marriage] for four months and ten days$ (Qur'an