سورة المجادلة

Imam Kazim (peace be upon him): Qasim ibn Muhammad Zayyat says: I said to Imam Kazim (peace be upon him): "I performed zihar with my wife." The Imam (peace be upon him) said: "How?" I said: "I said to her: If you do such and such, my relationship with you is like my relationship with my mother." The Imam (peace be upon him) said: "[Since it was conditional, the zihar has not taken effect, so] there is nothing upon you, and [stay with her and] there is no need for that woman to observe the waiting period (iddah)."

Imam Kazim (peace be upon him): Ibn Bukayr narrated from a man who said: I said to Imam Kazim (peace be upon him): "I said to my wife: 'If you go out of the door of the room, my relationship with you is like my relationship with my mother,' and she went out of the house." The Imam (peace be upon him) said: "There is nothing upon you." I said: "I have the means to pay the kaffara (expiation)." He said: "You do not need to do anything [nor pay any kaffara]." I said: "I even have the means to free one or two slaves as kaffara." He said: "You do not need to do anything, whether you have the means or not."

The Prophet (peace be upon him and his family): A man came to the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family) and said: "O Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family), I have performed zihar against my wife." He said: "Go and free a slave." The man said: "I have nothing." He said: "Then go and fast for two consecutive months." The man said: "I do not have the strength to fast." He said: "Then go and feed sixty destitute persons." The man said: "I do not have [the means]." The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family) said: "I will give sadaqa (charity) on your behalf," and he gave him a quantity of dates so that it might reach sixty destitute persons, and said: "Take this and feed the destitute." The man said: "By the One who sent you with the truth, between the east and the west of Medina I know of no one more in need than myself and my dependents." He said: "Then go and eat it yourself and feed your family from it."

Imam Baqir (peace be upon him): Abu Hamza al-Thumali said: I asked Imam Baqir (peace be upon him): "If a slave performs zihar, does he owe a kaffara?" He said: "Half of the fasting that is obligatory upon a free man. And it is not obligatory upon him to free a slave, to give sadaqa, or to feed the destitute."

Imam Ali (peace be upon him): There is no zihar between a free man (who is not a slave) and his own slave-girl, and whoever wishes, I am ready to perform mubahala (mutual imprecation) with him on this matter — that there is no zihar concerning a slave-girl — because Allah the Mighty and Majestic has said: الَّذِینَ یُظاهِرُونَ مِنْکُمْ مِنْ نِسائِهِمْ [Those of you who perform zihar against their wives], and a slave-girl is not their wife.

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): Fudayl ibn Yasar said: I asked Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him) about a slave man who performed zihar against his wife. He said: "It is not binding upon him. Ila and zihar are not valid until the man has consummated the marriage with the woman."

Imam Rida (peace be upon him): When a person is in a state of anger and utters the word of zihar, the zihar does not take effect.

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): Ammar ibn Musa says: I asked Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him) about zihar: "Which kind of it makes kaffarah (expiation) obligatory?" He said: "That kind in which one intends zihar itself, and not something else."

Imam Ali (peace be upon him): If a woman says: "My husband is to me like the back of my mother," no kaffarah (expiation) is obligatory upon her.

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): Zihar is of two kinds. One kind of it, before any act is done and he wishes [to return to the woman], has kaffarah (expiation); the other kind, its kaffarah is after that. The kind whose kaffarah is before doing anything is the case in which he says, "You are to me like the back of my mother," and does not say, "on the condition that I do such-and-such." And the kind whose kaffarah is after that is the case in which he says, "If I approach you, you are to me like the back of my mother."

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): Hafs ibn Bukhtari says: "Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him), regarding a man who had ten slave-girls and by uttering a single sentence performed zihar of all of them, said: 'He must give ten kaffarahs (expiations).'"

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): Sayf al-Tammar said: I said to Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): 'A man says to his wife: أَنْتِ عَلَیَّ کَظَهْرِ أُمِّی أَوْ عَمَّتِی أَوْ خَالَتِی [You are to me like the back of my mother, or my paternal aunt, or my maternal aunt]. [Do these words carry the meaning and ruling of zihar]?' The Imam (peace be upon him) said: 'Allah only mentioned the mothers, and this is indeed haram (forbidden).'

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): Jamil ibn Darraj said: I said to Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): 'A man says to his wife: "You are to me like the back of my paternal aunt or my maternal aunt." In this case, what is its ruling?' He said: 'This is zihar.'

Imam Kazim (peace be upon him): Ishaq ibn Ammar said: I asked Imam Kazim (peace be upon him): 'A man has performed zihar against his slave-girl.' He said: 'The free woman and the slave-girl are both equal in the matter of zihar.'

Fiqh al-Rida (peace be upon him): Beware of performing zihar against your wife, for Allah has disgraced and shamed a people because of zihar and said: ما هُنَّ أُمَّهاتِهِمْ إِنْ أُمَّهاتُهُمْ إِلَّا اللَّائِی وَلَدْنَهُمْ وَ إِنَّهُمْ لَیَقُولُونَ مُنْکَراً مِنَ الْقَوْلِ وَ زُوراً [they are not their mothers; their mothers are no others than those who gave them birth; and most surely they utter a hateful word and a falsehood].

Imam Ali (peace be upon him): One of the zindiqs (heretics) came to Amir al-Mu'minin (peace be upon him) and said, "Were it not for these contradictions and inconsistencies in the Qur'an, I would certainly have entered your religion." Imam Ali (peace be upon him) said, "What are those contradictions?" ... He said, "I find in the Qur'an that the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family) has been given preference over all the prophets (peace be upon them), yet more than the praises given to him, he has been addressed with harshness, injury, and evil, and has been rebuked and blamed in a manner in which no other prophet has been addressed — such as: 'But if Allah willed, He would [by force] have gathered them upon guidance. [But what benefit is forced guidance?] So never be of the ignorant!' (al-An'am/35) ..." Amir al-Mu'minin (peace be upon him) said: "... And as for the address you mentioned which indicates the censure, rebuke and blame of the noble Prophet (peace be upon him and his family), despite the fact that Allah the Blessed and Exalted made manifest in His Book his superiority over the rest of His prophets — Allah the Mighty and Majestic, just as He said in His Book, appointed for every prophet an enemy from among the criminals, and in view of the greatness of the station of our Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) before his Lord, Allah the Exalted made the affliction which he suffered from his enemy more severe ... 'They want to change the word of Allah' (al-Fath/15). They brought the Book while it was complete, containing ta'wil (interpretation) and tanzil (revelation), the muhkam (clear) and the mutashabih (allegorical), the nasikh (abrogating) and the mansukh (abrogated), and not a single alif or lam had fallen from it. Then, when they became aware of the names by which Allah had made clear the people of truth and falsehood in it, and realized that if these names appeared, the pact they had bound would be broken, they said: 'We have no need for this, and what we have with us suffices us from it.' Allah said: 'But they cast it behind their backs and sold it for a paltry price, and evil is what they buy!' (Al Imran/187). Then, because of matters whose ta'wil they did not know arising among them, they were compelled to gather it and compile it and add to it from themselves things upon which the pillars of their disbelief were built. At that moment their crier called out: 'Whoever has anything of the Qur'an with him, let him bring it to us.' Then they entrusted the compilation and arrangement of the Qur'an to one who was their supporter and helper in enmity toward the awliya' (friends of Allah), and he compiled the Book according to their choice. In this manner, what they supposed was in their favor — though it was in fact against them — they abandoned, and they added to it things which were openly disagreeable and inconsistent. And Allah knew that this would become manifest and evident, and He said: 'That is the extent of their knowledge.' (al-Najm/30). Allah the Exalted exposed their defectiveness and the fabrications of the one who, with heretical falsification, produced in the Book the censure of the noble Prophet (peace be upon him and his family), and He said: لَیَقُولُونَ مُنْکَراً مِنَ الْقَوْلِ وَ زُوراً [indeed they utter a hateful word and a falsehood]."