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Duty without a Qarinah Yahya al-Bahrumi

Principles 2 Shawwal 1435

Yahya al-Bahrumi
Author

A qarnah is a supporting text, i.e. a text that re-iterates another text. Some people claim that a
qarinah is necessary before a command sent from Allah their Master and King becomes
obligatory. This is wrong because Allah is to be obeyed for every command He states unless a
"qarinah" saysotherwise. In other words, we do not have to verify that a command requires
obedience, but instead we must verify that a command is taken out of its obligatory nature to
become voluntary due to some other divinely inspired text.
For example, regarding the issue of kitbah,(1) Allah said:
{ }
{Those seeking the kitb of whom your right hands possess, then make kitbah (!) if you know
goodness(2) in them, and give them from the wealth of Allah which He gave you.}(3)
Therefore, it is an obligation upon the slave owner to allow the kitabah of his Muslim slave who
requests it. This was the reported opinion of Umar ibn al-Khattab, Uthman ibn Aan, Anas ibn
Malik, Ata, Ibn Jurayj, Masruq, al-Dahhak, Ishaq ibn Rahawayh, and Dawud al-Asbahani.(4)
After mentioning the above ayah and those who agreed with its apparent meaning, Ibn Hazm said:

This was disputed by the Hanas, Malikis and Shais, as they said it is not
obligatory. They brought up some misgivings, like mentioning some commands
from the Quran that are understood to be voluntary, like:
{ }
(5)

{When you have become halal, then hunt.}

{ }

(6)

{When the prayer is nished, then disperse into the earth.}

There is no case for them therein, because if it wasn't for other texts that came,
these two commands would be compulsory! Rather, when Allah's Messenger
became halal after his hajj and his umrah, he did not hunt. So the
command thereof became voluntary. Also, when Allah's Messenger
urged
sitting in the place of the prayer and he made others interested in it, the
"dispersion" became voluntary.
If they have a text that claries the command of kitabah is voluntary, we will
agree with them. But if not, then lied has the one who altered the words of the
Quran out of their proper place. Also, nding a command that is specic or
abrogated does not necessitate that every command is specic or abrogated.(7)

Success is with Allah.

1. Kitbah: To write a contract with one's Muslim slave to oer his freedom after he makes a
specied amount of payments to his owner. []
2. Goodness begins with Islam, so this means these slaves must be Muslims. []
3. al-Nur 33 []
4. Ibn Hazm, al-Muall (8/222/1686). []
5. al-Maidah 2 []
6. al-Jumuah 10 []
7. Ibn Hazm, al-Muall (8/222/1686). []