Twenty-Second Assembly (Khwan-Pur-Nemat)

After breaking the fast¹ Sheikh Muizzuddin enquired: The decision of a Qazi pertains to the external and internal forums, but what is meant by this word 'internal'? The Venerable Master said: External' refers to things as seen by men, where- as 'internal' refers to things as seen by God. It could be illustrated in this fashion. If a Qazi, on the testimony of two wit- nesses, issues an order which is contrary to what actually happened, that order of his is lawful both according to the external Law and in the sight of God so that, in the next life, the person concerned cannot be accused on account of that. For example, if a man claims he has married a particular woman but, in fact, they have not been married, yet he produces two witnesses and the Qazi, on the testimony of those two witnesses, issues a decree of validity of the marriage, then the situation is that, in the external forum there is a decree of validity. The matter stands established. All the external usages appear to be lawful. In the internal forum also, if an application is made to the decree to the Qazi then, in the sight of God, there would be nothing blameworthy.

Later on, he added: As for the Qazi, he simply issued his decree in accordance with the legal procedure in force. After- wards, if something at variance with his decree comes to light, the Qazi has no authority to retract his decree. He accepts the testimony of the witnesses: he does not rescind his decree.

The following incident occurred during the lifetime of the Prophet. A man claimed that he had married a particular woman. Both appeared before the Prophet. The man made his claim while the woman denied it, affirming that she was not the man's wife at all. The man asserted that he had two witnesses. He promptly produced them before the Prophet. They also testified that the woman was married to the man. The Prophet decreed that his marriage was valid. After that the woman said:

'O Prophet, if things have turned out so then, O Prophet, give me in marriage to him. The Prophet intoned, 'I bear witness to your marriage.' This tradition occurs in this context.

A discussion about the abrogation of Quranic verses arose. He said: Some of them are those injunctions which have been abrogated but the reading of which remains. For some, both the injunction and the reading have been abrogated as, for example, it is said the chapter on 'Women' was longer than that on 'The Cow'. Some of the companions, who had memorized the Quran, were reciting it. One night it so happened that their recitation reached the chapter on 'Women'. They read a portion of it and forgot the rest. No matter how hard they tried to recite it nothing at all came back to them. They were astonished- ed and distressed, thinking 'What is happening? What has taken place? What misfortune has occurred for it to have fled our memories? They waited the whole night, right up till dawn, so that, when dawn came, they might ask for an explanation from the Prophet. When dawn broke, they hurried off asked him why this had happened to them. The Apostle said: 'It was abrogated last night.

After that the Venerable Master said: Glory be to God! When the reading was abrogated, its remembrance was removed from their minds.

Afterwards he said: There is no abrogation is what is reason- able neither in stories of historical accounts, nor in the foundations of the faith, because what is reasonable in this era is so in others also. Moreover, if abrogation was permissible in stories and historical accounts then falsehood would necessarily enter in, for it would be incumbent upon the narrator to prove it so that what emanates from him might be found to be correct.

After breaking the fast¹ Sheikh Muizzuddin enquired: The decision of a Qazi pertains to the external and internal forums, but what is meant by this word 'internal'? The Venerable Master said: External' refers to things as seen by men, where- as 'internal' refers to things as seen by God. It could be illustrated in this fashion. If a Qazi, on the testimony of two wit- nesses, issues an order which is contrary to what actually happened, that order of his is lawful both according to the external Law and in the sight of God so that, in the next life, the person concerned cannot be accused on account of that. For example, if a man claims he has married a particular woman but, in fact, they have not been married, yet he produces two witnesses and the Qazi, on the testimony of those two witnesses, issues a decree of validity of the marriage, then the situation is that, in the external forum there is a decree of validity. The matter stands established. All the external usages appear to be lawful. In the internal forum also, if an application is made to the decree to the Qazi then, in the sight of God, there would be nothing blameworthy.

Later on, he added: As for the Qazi, he simply issued his decree in accordance with the legal procedure in force. After- wards, if something at variance with his decree comes to light, the Qazi has no authority to retract his decree. He accepts the testimony of the witnesses: he does not rescind his decree.

The following incident occurred during the lifetime of the Prophet. A man claimed that he had married a particular woman. Both appeared before the Prophet. The man made his claim while the woman denied it, affirming that she was not the man's wife at all. The man asserted that he had two witnesses. He promptly produced them before the Prophet. They also testified that the woman was married to the man. The Prophet decreed that his marriage was valid. After that the woman said:

'O Prophet, if things have turned out so then, O Prophet, give me in marriage to him. The Prophet intoned, 'I bear witness to your marriage.' This tradition occurs in this context.

A discussion about the abrogation of Quranic verses arose. He said: Some of them are those injunctions which have been abrogated but the reading of which remains. For some, both the injunction and the reading have been abrogated as, for example, it is said the chapter on 'Women' was longer than that on 'The Cow'. Some of the companions, who had memorized the Quran, were reciting it. One night it so happened that their recitation reached the chapter on 'Women'. They read a portion of it and forgot the rest. No matter how hard they tried to recite it nothing at all came back to them. They were astonished- ed and distressed, thinking 'What is happening? What has taken place? What misfortune has occurred for it to have fled our memories? They waited the whole night, right up till dawn, so that, when dawn came, they might ask for an explanation from the Prophet. When dawn broke, they hurried off asked him why this had happened to them. The Apostle said: 'It was abrogated last night.

After that the Venerable Master said: Glory be to God! When the reading was abrogated, its remembrance was removed from their minds.

Afterwards he said: There is no abrogation is what is reason- able neither in stories of historical accounts, nor in the foundations of the faith, because what is reasonable in this era is so in others also. Moreover, if abrogation was permissible in stories and historical accounts then falsehood would necessarily enter in, for it would be incumbent upon the narrator to prove it so that what emanates from him might be found to be correct.