Documents of the Right Word

pretty jâriya [1] named Husniyya. This jâriya stayed with the Imâm
until she reached the age of twenty, learning in the meantime all
the branches of knowledge. After the Imâm’s death the merchant
went bankrupt and wanted to sell the jâriya to Hârûn-ur-Reshîd,
the Khalîfa. [Hârûn-ur-Reshîd was the fifth Abbâsî (Abbasid)
Khalîfa. He was born in 148, and passed away in 193 in Tus city.
He became the Khalîfa in 170]. Petrified by the beauty of the girl,
the Khalîfa asked the price. Fifty thousand golds, was the answer.
When the Khalîfa asked what skills the jâriya had to be worth that
much, the merchant told him all about the knowledge and the
virtues she had. She was given an examination in the presence of
scholars. She proved to be superior to the scholars. She rebutted
all of them. The scholars and mujtahids present for the occasion,
among whom were Imâm-i-Abû Yûsuf Ya’qûb bin Ibrâhîm [113-
182, in Baghdâd] and Imâm-i-Muhammad bin Idris Shâfi’î [150-
204, in Egypt], could not answer her. They knew a scholar who
they believed was superior to them all. This scholar, Ibrâhîm
Khâlid by name, lived in Basra and was the author of numerous
books. They sent for him, yet he, too, proved short of coping with
her and became completely baffled.”
According to some Madh-habs, it is not permissible for this
jâriya to stay with another man while being in the possession of the
merchant. There are some scholars who say that it is not permissible
in Hanafî Madh-hab, either. This fact is written in the two hundred
and thirty-fifth page of the fifth volume of Ibni Âbidîn. To say that
such a pious personage as Imâm-i-Ja’fer-i-Sâdiq ‘radiy-Allâhu anh’,
who is well-known for his wara’ [2] and taqwâ, [3] continuously
committed a forbidden or (at least) dubious deed by keeping
another man’s young and pretty jâriya in his service and teaching
her for years, means to calumniate that great Imâm. It might be
thought that the Imâm, being a mujtahid himself, might have had
the ijtihâd that such an act would be permissible; but how could we
presume that this great Imâm would have been so indifferent as to
acquiesce in a jâriya’s being deprived of freedom for many years
and being put up for sale at the end of all these years in his service
[1] Woman slave captured in a Holy War. Muslims treat their slaves and
jâriyas as they treat their brothers and sisters.
[2] Wara’ means to abstain from acts, behaviors, words, food, drinks, and
all things that are dubious, that is, anything about which one cannot be
sure whether it is forbidden or permitted.
[3] Taqwâ means to abstain from all sorts of forbidden acts, behaviours,
thoughts, words. (Ibni Âbidîn)
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