A Marginalia to Mu'jam

The Narration of Ismail b. Fadhl al-Hashimi

In al-Kafi, al-Kulayni narrates a very interesting Hadith in which the Imam directs one of his companions i.e. Ismail - to Ibn Jurayj to learn about Mut'a. By this - the Imam wished to acknowledge that Ibn Jurayj's stance about Mut'a was accurate. 

[-/8] الكافي: علي بن إبراهيم، عن أبيه، عن ابن أبي عمير، عن عمر بن أذينة، عن إسماعيل بن الفضل الهاشمي، قال: سألت أبا عبد الله عليه السلام عن المتعة، فقال: إلق عبد الملك بن جريح فسله عنها فإن عنده منها علما، فلقيته فأملى علي منها شيئا كثيرا في استحلالها، فكان فيما روى لي ابن جريح، قال: ليس فيها وقت ولا عدد إنما هي بمنزلة الإماء يتزوج منهن كم شاء، وصاحب الأربع نسوة يتزوج منهن ما شاء بغير ولي ولا شهود، فإذا انقضى الاجل بانت منه بغير طلاق ويعطيها الشئ اليسير، وعدتها حيضتان، وإن كانت لا تحيض فخمسة وأربعون يوما، فأتيت بالكتاب أبا عبد الله عليه السلام فعرضت عليه، فقال: صدق وأقر به

[8/-] al-Kafi: Ali b. Ibrahim from his father from Ibn Abi Umayr from Umar b. Udhayna from Ismail b. al-Fadhl al-Hashimi who said: I asked Aba Abdillah عليه السلام about Mut’a so he said: go and see Abd al-Malik b. Jurayj and ask him about it for he has some knowledge about it, so I met him and he (Ibn Jurayj) dictated a lot of material in regards its permissibility to me, so from among that which Ibn Jurayj transmitted to me included: it (Mut’ah) has no fixed duration nor limit in number [of partners with whom you can contract], it has the same status as [union with] slave girls, a man marries with them as he likes, even someone who already has four wives can marry as many as he wishes, without [permission from] guardian required nor witnesses, so when the period terminates she departs from him without divorce, and he gives her some small thing [as her Mahr], and her Idda is two menstrual cycles, and if she does not menstruate then forty five days, so I came with the book to Aba Abdillah عليه السلام  and presented its contents to him, so he said: he is truthful, and he agreed with it.

- What is to be noted is how similar this is to what the Imamiyya hold even to this day.

 

Was this View of Ibn Jurayj based on Personal Opinion?

This view of Ibn Jurayj was not based on personal opinion but because he did not believe that the allowance by the prophet was abrogated.

He himself narrates Umar’s decision to annul Mut’a from his teacher Ata.

عبد الرزاق عن ابن جريج عن عطاء قال: لاول من سمعت منه المتعة صفوان بن يعلى، قال: أخبرني عن يعلى أن معاوية استمتع بامرأة بالطائف، فأنكرت ذلك عليه، فدخلنا على ابن عباس، فذكر له بعضنا، فقال له: نعم، فلم يقر في نفسي، حتى قدم جابر ابن عبد الله، فجئناه في منزله، فسأله القوم عن أشياء، ثم ذكروا له المتعة، فقال: نعم، استمتعنا على عهد رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم، وأبي بكر، وعمر، حتى إذا كان في آخر خلافة عمر استمتع عمرو بن حريث بامرأة - سماها جابر فنسيتها - فحملت المرأة، فبلغ ذلك عمر، فدعاها فسألها، فقالت: نعم، قال: من أشهد؟ قال عطاء: لا أدري قالت: أمي، أم وليها، قال: فهلا غيرهما

Abd al-Razzaq from Ibn Jurayj from Ata who said: the first time I heard about Mut’a was from Safwan b. Ya’la, he reported to me from Ya’la that Muawiya made Mut’a with a woman in Taif, so I rejected that from him, then we entered upon Ibn Abbas, so one of us broached this topic, so he said: yes [it is permitted], but that did not comfort my heart, until Jabir b. Aballah came so we went to his house, so the group asked him about different things, then they asked about Mut’a so he said: yes, we did it in the time of the messenger of Allah, and Abi Bakr and Umar, until the last period of the Khilafa of Umar when Amr b. Hurayth did Mut’a with a woman – Jabir mentioned her name but I have forgotten it – so the woman became pregnant, and that was reported to Umar, so he called her and questioned her, she said: yes [it happened via Mut’a], he said: who witnessed it [the marriage]? Ata said – I forgot whether she said: my mother – or my guardian, he (Umar) said: did no one else do so (witness it)?

عبد الرزاق عن ابن جريج قال: أخبرني أبو الزبير قال: سمعت جابر بن عبد الله يقول: استمتعنا أصحاب النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم، حتى نهي عمرو بن حريث 

Abd al-Razzaq from Ibn Jurayj who said: Abu al-Zubayr reported to me saying: I heard Jabir b. Abdallah saying: we the companions of the prophet contracted Mut’a marriages until Amr b. Hurayth was forbidden it [by Umar].

عبد الرزاق عن ابن جريج قال: أخبرني أبو الزبير أنه سمع جابر بن عبد الله يقول: قدم عمرو بن حريث من الكوفة فاستمتع بمولاة، فأتي بها عمر وهي حبلى، فسألها، فقالت: استمتع بي عمرو بن حريث، فسأله، فأخبره بذلك أمرا ظاهرا ... فذلك حين نهى عنها، قال ابن جريج: وأخبرني من أصدق أن عليا قال بالكوفة: لولا ما سبق من رأي عمر بن الخطاب - لامرت بالمتعة ، ثم ما زنا إلا شقي

Abd al-Razzaq from Ibn Jurayj who said: Abu al-Zubayr reported to me that he heard Jabir b. Abdallah saying: Amr b. Hurayth came from Kufa and contracted Mut’a with a slave girl, so Umar brought her forward while she was pregnant and questioned her, she said: Amr b. Hurayth made Mut’a with me, so he asked him (Amr) and he admitted it openly … so that’s when he forbade it.

Ibn Jurayj said: reported to me the one I consider truthful that Ali said in al-Kufa: If Umar b. al-Khattab’s decision had not preceded I would have reinstated Mut’a again, then no one would have committed adultery except the wretched.  

 

Note: These three narrations are from the Musannaf of Abd al-Razzaq al-San’ani, the famous Yamani Muhadith who took a lot of narrations from Ibn Jurayj thus preserving Fiqhi positions  of the ancient Meccan school of Jurisprudence as taught by Ata and Ibn Jurayj. For more on this refer to Harald Motzki’s book - Origins of Islamic Jurisprudence: Meccan Fiqh before the Classical Schools.

In it, Motzki proposes to analyse the authenticity of the Muṣannaf of Abd al-Razzaq (d. 211/826), in particular the legal traditions from Ibn Jurayj (d. 150/767), which often refer to his teacher Ata b. Abi Rabah (d. 115/633). His major methodological innovation is in drawing up a range of indices, by which he seeks to determine if a particular name in an isnād is associated with a genuine authorial voice, thus demonstrating the implausibility of fabrication.

Motzki argues that on the basis of these indices we have good reason to believe that the material in the Muṣannaf of Abd al-Razzaq that is ascribed to Ata b. Abi Rabah via Ibn Jurayj is an accurate representation of the teachings taken down by an honest and assiduous legal student from his well-respected master, a successor, who lived most of his life within the first Islamic century.

 

Did Ibn Jurayj change his Stance?

Some Sunni scholars claim that Ibn Jurayj changed his stance and came over to the position that it is prohibited. They use the following as evidence:

نسبهُ الشوكاني إلى أبي عوانة ـ فقال: فقد روى أبوعوانة في صحيحه عن ابن جريج أنّه قال لهم بالبصرة: اشهدوا أني قد رجعت عنها

Al-Shawkani quotes Abu Awana that Ibn Jurayj said to them in Basra: I bear witness that I have recanted from that (its permissibility). [Nayl al-Awtar 6/136]

But this is Mursal, because Ibn Jurayj died in 150 AH, while Abu Awana was born on the year 230 AH, so how can he narrate from Ibn Jurayj without any intermediary!

 

This was the position of Ibn Jurayj’s teacher Ata as well 

ابن حزم: فيمن ثبت على تحليل المتعة بعد رسول الله (صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم)... ومن التابعين... عطاء

Ibn Hazm: Those who remained steadfast in permitting Mut’a after the messenger of Allah … and from among the Tabi’in - Ata [al-Muhalla 9/519; al-Mughni of Ibn Qudama 7/571]

الكرابيسي: قال بنكاح المتعة... جماعة من التابعين، منهم: عطاء

al-Karabisi: Those who agreed with Mut’a … a number of the Tabi’in including: Ata [Masail al-Saghaniyya Pg. 37]

 

Ata had to resort to Taqiyya to avoid Persecution

الفاكهي: حدّثنا يعقوب بن حميد، قال: ثنا عبدالله بن الحارث المخزومي، قال: حدّثني غير واحد، أنّ محمد بن هشام سأل عطاء بن أبي رباح عن متعة النساء، فحدّثه فيها ولم يربها بأساً قال (فقدم) القاسم بن محمد قال: فأرسل إليه محمد بن هشام، فسأله فقال: لا ينبغي هي حرام قال ابن هشام: عطاء حدّثني فيها وزعم أن لا بأس بها! فقال القاسم: سبحان الله، ما أرى عطاءً يقول هذا قال: فأرسل إليه ابن هشام، فلمّا جاءه قال: يا أبامحمد حدّثَ القاسم الذي حدّثتني في المتعة فقال: ما حدّثتك فيها شيئاً قال ابن هشام: بلى قد حدّثتني فقال: ما فعلت، فلّما خرج القاسم قال له عطاء صدقت أخبرتك، ولكن كرهت أن أقولها بين يدي القاسم، فيلعنني ويلعنني أهل المدينه

al-Fakihi: narrated to us Ya’qub b. Humayd who said: Abdallah b. al-Harith al-Makhzumi said: narrated to me more than  one that Muhammad b. Hisham asked Ata b. Abi Rabah about Mut’a of the women, so he narrated to him in regards that and did not see in it any wrong, then al-Qasim b. Muhammad came, so Muhammad b. Hisham sen for him and asked him, so he said: it should not be done - it is prohibited, Ibn Hisham said: Ata narrated to me about it and claimed that there was nothing wrong in it, so al-Qasim said: glory be to Allah! I can’t imagine Ata would have said that, he said: so Ibn Hisham sent for him, so when he (Ata) had come he said: O Aba Muhammad, narrate to al-Qasim what you narrated to me about Mut’a, he said: I did not narrate to you about it anything, Ibn Hisham said: yes you did narrate to me, he said: no I did not, so when al-Qasim had left Ata said to him: you are right I did narrate to you, but I did not like to say it in front of al-Qasim for he will curse me and the people of Madina will curse me. [Akhbar Makka 3/14]

 

Conclusion

I quote a narration in the Sunan of al-Bayhaqi in which Ibn Jurayj is narration from Abu Ja’far al-Baqir the particulars of the Ghusl of the prophet as Baraka.

عن عبد الملك بن جريج قال سمعت محمد بن علي ابا جعفر قال غسل النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم ثلاثا بالسدر وغسل وعليه قميص وغسل من بئر يقال له الغرس بقباء كانت لسعد بن خيثمة وكان النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم يشرب منها وولى سفلته علي والفضل محتضنه والعباس يصب الماء ...

Abd al-Malik b. Jurayj who said: I heard Muhammad b. Ali Aba Ja’far saying: the prophet was washed thrice using Sidr [jujube], and he was washed while he had a long shirt on, and he was washed using the well-water called al-Ghurs found in Quba belonging to Sa’d b. Khaythama – and the prophet used to drink water from it, and Ali undertook thewashing of the lower body while al-Fadhl the upper-body, and al-Abbas was pouring water.

 

Reference: al-Zawwaj al-Muwaqqat inda al-Sahaba wa al-Tabi’in (by Najm al-Diin al-Tabasi)

Edited January 29, 2017 by Islamic Salvation

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Thus, as we can see - Ibn Jurayj is unanimously considered Thiqa according to the Sunnis, and he was depended upon by the Hadith scholars and the narrators, and he was truthful and God-fearing, despite all that he ruled on the permissibility of Mut’a and acted upon it.

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Jarir:  … As for Ibn Jurayj then he willed to his son [the names of] seventy women and said: do not marry them for they are your mothers and he used to accept Mut’a. [Ta’rikh Baghdad 7/255, Sharh al-Zarqani 8/76]

Ibn Jurayj was a man who believed in mutah marriage and took his marital relationships so seriously that when he was going to die he made sure that his son knew the names of all his mutah wives, so that his son would not accidentally marry an older woman who was his own stepmother. There is a wise and cautious lesson to be learned in this. 

I will save this, thanks for posting it.