Documents of the Right Word

Bukhârî-i-sherîf that ‘hadrat Alî ‘radiy-Allâhu anh’ told Abdullah
ibni Abbâs that Rasûlullah ‘sall-Allâhu alaihi wasallam’ prohibited
mut’a nikâh and consumption of donkey flesh during the Holy
War of Hayber.’ On the other hand, it is written in the book
(Muslim-i-sherîf) and in Ibni Mâja’s book that our master the
Prophet ‘sall-Allâhu ta’âlâ alaihi wasallam’ stated, ‘O Muslims! I
gave you permission to marry women with mut’a nikâh. Yet now
Allâhu ta’âlâ has made it harâm. If anyone has been keeping such
a woman he should let her go and should not take back the
property he has given her!’ Also, it is written in the books called
(Sahîh) by Bukhârî and Muslim that ‘Our master Rasûlullah ‘sall-
Allâhu alaihi wasallam’ made mut’a nikâh halâl three times. And
he made it harâm three times.’ ”
I asked the head Molla, “Could a woman married by mut’a
nikâh be an heiress to the man? And supposing this woman had
children by this man; could these children inherit from their
father?”
“No, they couldn’t,” was the head Molla’s answer.
“Then this woman is not a wife. Nor is she a jâriya. What would
you say about the âyat-i-kerîma, ‘Believers keep away from
women other than their wives and jâriyas?’ That is, this âyat-ikerîma
makes only the wife and the jâriya halâl. It states plainly
that one cannot come together with any women except these two.
Wouldn’t it mean to oppose this plain commandment of Qur’ân alkerîm
to assert that it would be halâl to cohabit with a woman who
could be called neither a wife nor a jâriya and with whom one has
made a (temporary marriage) contract called mut’a nikâh? And
wouldn’t this in its turn mean to strive obstinately, intentionally,
and vainly to deviate from the right way?
“Furthermore, you make such preposterous statements as
could by no means be justified. For instance, one of your scholars,
a man named Alî ibnil’âl, has written that it would be permissible
for a woman to have sexual intercourse with twelve men in one
night and that, in case she conceived, the child’s father would be
determined by holding a lottery. What other turpitude or enmity
could be more destructive than this to Islam?” This answer of mine
petrified the head Molla. He thought for a long while. Hoping to
escape the quandary, he asked another question:
7- “It is wâjib for everybody to obey the Khalîfa and to comply
with all his commandments. And the person to be obeyed should
in his turn be sinless, faultless. Besides, it is unanimously
acknowledged by both sides, (by Shiite and Sunnite scholars), that
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