Ibn Kathir said in his tafsir regarding the saying of Allah the Exalted: “And if you wish to replace one wife with another...”
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The Shaykh : Here is a question about a famous story. The questioner says: Ibn Kathir stated in his tafsir: [An-Nisa 4:20] What is the gist of the verse? Another chain of narration is from 'Umar. Al-Hafiz Abu Ya'la narrated to us, Abu Khaythamah narrated to us, Ya'qub ibn Ibrahim narrated to us, my father narrated to us, from Ibn Ishaq, who said: Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Rahman narrated to me, from Khalid ibn Sa'id, from al-Sha'bi, from Masruq, who said: 'Umar ibn al-Khattab mounted the pulpit and called for limiting mahr (bridal gifts). A woman from Quraysh objected to him and said: "You have forbidden people from increasing the mahr of women," and she recited the verse. 'Umar returned and said: "O Allah, forgive me. Everyone is more knowledgeable than 'Umar." He mounted the pulpit and retracted his opinion. Ibn Kathir said: "Its chain of narration is good and strong?"
My answer to this is that this chain of narration contains a man whose name was written incorrectly in the printed copy, as you heard earlier, from Khalid ibn Sa’id. This is a distortion of Mujalid ibn Sa’id. Khalid ibn Sa’id does not exist among the narrators, and the correct name is Mujalid ibn Sa’id. This is how it is in Musnad Abu Ya’la, to which Ibn Kathir attributed the hadith. This Mujalid ibn Sa’id has much discussion about him among the hadith scholars, and al-Hafiz Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani says in his book Taqrib al-Tahdhib: “He is not strong.” This is the critique of the chain of narration, which is called by some contemporary writers external critique. I have a critique of the text, which is called internal critique, and that is from two aspects. One of them relates to what is known among hadith scholars as the shadh (anomalous) or munkar (denounced) hadith. That is because Mujalid ibn Sa’id, despite his weakness in memorization, contradicted the correct route through which the hadith of Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) forbidding the Companions from increasing the mahr of women beyond the mahr of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), which he set for his wives, namely four hundred dirhams, was transmitted.
It is authentic in Sunan al-Tirmidhi, Musnad Ahmad, and others, from Umar, that he forbade the people, the fathers who are guardians of women, from taking mahr for them greater than four hundred dirhams. This amount is the mahr that the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) prescribed for his wives. Up to this point, the story is authentic. But when Mujalid ibn Sa’id, with his weakness, adds to the trustworthy narrators who narrated the story without this addition, which is the story of the old woman, then his addition becomes denounced.
This is from the perspective of his contradiction of the trustworthy narrators, and from the perspective of the meaning. What I understand from the saying of Allah the Exalted[An-Nisa 4:20] is that this verse was not revealed to establish a principle or rule for regulating mahr and not to exaggerate in it. Rather, this verse was revealed to command the husband to fulfill what he prescribed for his wife as mahr, even if it were qintars of gold. The verse was cited for the purpose of encouraging fulfillment, as he (peace and blessings be upon him) said in a hadith in al-Bukhari: Any man who marries a woman with a mahr of one hundred thousand, he must fulfill this for her if he wishes to divorce her and replace her. He does not say, “I mean this woman is no longer suitable for me,” and does not pay her what was written for her. He must pay her [An-Nisa 4:20]. The verse was cited for the principle of the obligation to fulfill what the husband contracted with his wife.
The questioner : Make room, make room.
The Shaykh : ... deals with one matter, and the verse deals with another matter. Umar’s admonition encourages Muslims not to exaggerate in the mahr of their women. The verse encourages the husband to fulfill his condition to his wife, whatever mahr he contracted for her.
So, two separate matters, one completely separate from the other. And in another sense, if I spoke, and I am nothing compared to Umar, if I spoke on the topic of not exaggerating in the mahr of women, and a man from among the men, not a woman, objected to me with the verse, I would say to him: “My brother, the verse does not contradict what I am encouraging the people to do. I am encouraging the people to follow the Sunnah of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), who established for Muslims not to exaggerate in mahr in practice, and mentioned in some hadiths what indicates that the best of women are those with the least mahr. So I am speaking to affirm this verbal and practical Sunnah, and I encourage Muslims to adhere to it, hold fast to it, and bite down on it with their teeth. But if a man proposed to a woman with a very high mahr, and built with her on this condition, and lived with her as long as he did, and then wished to divorce her, he should not take a single cent from that, even if he had written for her a qintar. There is no contradiction between my guidance and the verse. If I, as I told you, and I am nothing compared to Umar, were told to object to me with the verse, I would clarify that the verse does not contradict the principle of reducing mahr, but rather the verse commands fulfillment of the conditions on which the man married the woman.
The questioner : Like Umar, did he forbid or encourage?
The Shaykh : He encouraged, he encouraged, but his encouragement was strong to the extent that he threatened that whoever reached him...
The questioner : ... .
The Shaykh : That he, that he, it does not concern us. In any case, we are now in the process of explaining the contradiction in this hadith.
The questioner : There is a difference between admonishing people against high mahr and forbidding or preventing it.
The Shaykh : Does this have a relation to explaining the weakness of the hadith? This is another matter. We do not mix Sha’ban with Ramadan.
The questioner : Explain to us from the perspective that there is no contradiction between the verse and the hadith.
The Shaykh : Yes, even if Umar had forbidden it, there is no contradiction, because Umar went to reduce it. Umar forbade and prohibited that the guardian of the girl should not exaggerate in the mahr. We say: He prohibited it in this way. Then it reached him that a man proposed to a woman with a qintar, and entered upon her and built with her on this. Does Umar say to him: “Do not fulfill what you contracted?” No, my statement still holds. This is on one side. Whatever Umar was upon, whether he explicitly prohibited it or not, this falls under the category of maslakh mursal (unrestricted public interest). He encourages Muslims to follow the Sunnah of the Master of the Messengers. From another perspective, he threatens them that if it reaches him that someone took a mahr of more than four hundred, he leaves the four hundred for the girl and adds the increase to the treasury of the Muslims. Yes, this does not contradict that the verse commanded fulfillment, even if he gave her a qintar, so he does not take anything from it.
The questioner : Meaning, did Umar not retract his opinion?
The Shaykh : No, he did not retract. There is no retraction.
So, it is established from my previous explanation that the hadith has three defects. The first defect is the weakness of Mujalid ibn Sa’id, and not Khalid ibn Sa’id, according to the most probable opinion among hadith scholars.
The second defect is the contradiction of Mujalid ibn Sa’id with the trustworthy narrators who narrated the story without the addition of the woman in it.
The third and final defect is that the objection of the old woman to Umar is not consistent with Umar’s intention, as we explained earlier.
But if you want to replace one wife
وإن أردتم استبدال زوجMy answer to this is that this chain of narration contains a man whose name was written incorrectly in the printed copy, as you heard earlier, from Khalid ibn Sa’id. This is a distortion of Mujalid ibn Sa’id. Khalid ibn Sa’id does not exist among the narrators, and the correct name is Mujalid ibn Sa’id. This is how it is in Musnad Abu Ya’la, to which Ibn Kathir attributed the hadith. This Mujalid ibn Sa’id has much discussion about him among the hadith scholars, and al-Hafiz Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani says in his book Taqrib al-Tahdhib: “He is not strong.” This is the critique of the chain of narration, which is called by some contemporary writers external critique. I have a critique of the text, which is called internal critique, and that is from two aspects. One of them relates to what is known among hadith scholars as the shadh (anomalous) or munkar (denounced) hadith. That is because Mujalid ibn Sa’id, despite his weakness in memorization, contradicted the correct route through which the hadith of Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) forbidding the Companions from increasing the mahr of women beyond the mahr of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), which he set for his wives, namely four hundred dirhams, was transmitted.
It is authentic in Sunan al-Tirmidhi, Musnad Ahmad, and others, from Umar, that he forbade the people, the fathers who are guardians of women, from taking mahr for them greater than four hundred dirhams. This amount is the mahr that the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) prescribed for his wives. Up to this point, the story is authentic. But when Mujalid ibn Sa’id, with his weakness, adds to the trustworthy narrators who narrated the story without this addition, which is the story of the old woman, then his addition becomes denounced.
This is from the perspective of his contradiction of the trustworthy narrators, and from the perspective of the meaning. What I understand from the saying of Allah the Exalted
But if you want to replace one wife with another and you have given one of them a great amount [in gifts], do not take [back] from it anything
وإن أردتم استبدال زوج مكان زوج وأتيتم إحداهن قنطارا فلا تأخذوا منه شيئاThe most deserving of conditions to be fulfilled are those by which you have made lawful the private parts.
أحق الشروط بالوفاء ما استحللتم به الفروجand you have given one of them a great amount [in gifts], do not take [back] from it anything
وإن آتيتم إحداهن قنطارا فلا تأخذوا منه شيئاThe questioner : Make room, make room.
The Shaykh : ... deals with one matter, and the verse deals with another matter. Umar’s admonition encourages Muslims not to exaggerate in the mahr of their women. The verse encourages the husband to fulfill his condition to his wife, whatever mahr he contracted for her.
So, two separate matters, one completely separate from the other. And in another sense, if I spoke, and I am nothing compared to Umar, if I spoke on the topic of not exaggerating in the mahr of women, and a man from among the men, not a woman, objected to me with the verse, I would say to him: “My brother, the verse does not contradict what I am encouraging the people to do. I am encouraging the people to follow the Sunnah of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), who established for Muslims not to exaggerate in mahr in practice, and mentioned in some hadiths what indicates that the best of women are those with the least mahr. So I am speaking to affirm this verbal and practical Sunnah, and I encourage Muslims to adhere to it, hold fast to it, and bite down on it with their teeth. But if a man proposed to a woman with a very high mahr, and built with her on this condition, and lived with her as long as he did, and then wished to divorce her, he should not take a single cent from that, even if he had written for her a qintar. There is no contradiction between my guidance and the verse. If I, as I told you, and I am nothing compared to Umar, were told to object to me with the verse, I would clarify that the verse does not contradict the principle of reducing mahr, but rather the verse commands fulfillment of the conditions on which the man married the woman.
The questioner : Like Umar, did he forbid or encourage?
The Shaykh : He encouraged, he encouraged, but his encouragement was strong to the extent that he threatened that whoever reached him...
The questioner : ... .
The Shaykh : That he, that he, it does not concern us. In any case, we are now in the process of explaining the contradiction in this hadith.
The questioner : There is a difference between admonishing people against high mahr and forbidding or preventing it.
The Shaykh : Does this have a relation to explaining the weakness of the hadith? This is another matter. We do not mix Sha’ban with Ramadan.
The questioner : Explain to us from the perspective that there is no contradiction between the verse and the hadith.
The Shaykh : Yes, even if Umar had forbidden it, there is no contradiction, because Umar went to reduce it. Umar forbade and prohibited that the guardian of the girl should not exaggerate in the mahr. We say: He prohibited it in this way. Then it reached him that a man proposed to a woman with a qintar, and entered upon her and built with her on this. Does Umar say to him: “Do not fulfill what you contracted?” No, my statement still holds. This is on one side. Whatever Umar was upon, whether he explicitly prohibited it or not, this falls under the category of maslakh mursal (unrestricted public interest). He encourages Muslims to follow the Sunnah of the Master of the Messengers. From another perspective, he threatens them that if it reaches him that someone took a mahr of more than four hundred, he leaves the four hundred for the girl and adds the increase to the treasury of the Muslims. Yes, this does not contradict that the verse commanded fulfillment, even if he gave her a qintar, so he does not take anything from it.
The questioner : Meaning, did Umar not retract his opinion?
The Shaykh : No, he did not retract. There is no retraction.
So, it is established from my previous explanation that the hadith has three defects. The first defect is the weakness of Mujalid ibn Sa’id, and not Khalid ibn Sa’id, according to the most probable opinion among hadith scholars.
The second defect is the contradiction of Mujalid ibn Sa’id with the trustworthy narrators who narrated the story without the addition of the woman in it.
The third and final defect is that the objection of the old woman to Umar is not consistent with Umar’s intention, as we explained earlier.