The Ruling on Turtledoves

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ

The following is taken from “An Example of Imam Abu ‘Abdullah Muhammad ibn Idris ash-Shafi’i’s (r.a.) Jurisprudence”, by Dr. Jibril Fu’ad Haddad.

Shaykh Abu Manswur ‘Abd al-Qahir ibn Thahir al-Baghdadi (r.a.), in Manaqib ash-Shafi’i, and Naqd Abu ‘Abdullah al-Jurjani fi Tarjih Madzhab Abu Hanifah, related the following example of the Imam Abu ‘Abdullah Muhammad ibn Idris ash-Shafi’i’s (r.a.) perspicuity at an early age. 

Imam ash-Shafi’i (r.a.) was sitting at Imam Abu ‘Abdullah Malik ibn Anas’ (r.a.) feet, one day, when a man came in and said, “I sell turtledoves, and one of my customers returned one of them to me today, saying that it does not coo, so I swore to him on pain of divorce that my turtledove coos all the time!” 

Imam Malik (r.a.) said, “You have divorced your wife, and are not to approach her.” 

Imam ash-Shafi’i (r.a.) was fourteen at the time.  He asked the man, “Which is more, your turtledove’s cooing, or its silence?” 

The man replied, “Its cooing.” 

Imam ash-Shafi’i (r.a.) said, “Consider your marriage valid, and there is no penalty on you.” 

Whereupon Imam Malik (r.a.) frowned at him saying, “Boy!  How do you know this?” 

Imam ash-Shafi’i (r.a.) replied, “Because you narrated to me from az-Zuhri, from Abu Salamah ibn ‘Abd ar-Rahman, from Umm Salamah, that Fathimah bint Qays said, ‘O Messenger of Allah, Abu Jahm and Mu’awiyah have both proposed to me.’ 

The Prophet (s.a.w.) replied, ‘As for Mu’awiyah, he is penniless, and as for Abu Jahm he does not put down his staff from his shoulder.’  Meaning: in most of his states; for the Arabs declare the more frequent of two actions, because of its constancy.  And since the cooing of this man’s turtledove is more than its silence, I declared it constant in its cooing.” 

Imam Malik (r.a.) was pleased at his reasoning.  The hadits in question was narrated by Imam Abu ‘Abdullah Muhammad ibn Isma’il al-Bukhari (r.a.), and Imam ‘Asakir ad-Din Abu al-Husayn Muslim ibn al-Hajjaj (r.a.).  This early ruling of Imam ash-Shafi’i (r.a.) is also found in Thabaqat ash-Shafi’iyyah al-Kubra by Imam Taj ad-Din Abu Naswr ʻAbd al-Wahhab ibn ʻAli as-Subki (r.a.).


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