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RESERVATION (AL-WUQUF)
Reservation is
another obligatory duty connected with ‘assocation’ and
‘dissociation’ (al-walaya and al-bara`ah). If the person was not
qualified for association or dissocation, his state must be of
‘reservation’. ‘Reservation’ is an obligation as long as the
persom`s case is not clear. This attitude is eatablished on the
basis of the following verses of the Qur`an:(حتى
يكون الشيطان هو الخاسر
)
1.
“And
pursue not that thou hast no knowledge of; hearing, the sight,
the heart- all those shall be questioned of”95
2.
“O
Believers, if an ungodly man come to you with a tiding, make
clear, lest you afflict a people unwittingly, and then repent of
what you have done”96
The following
Traditions of the Prophet are produced to strengthen this
view:- It is reported that the Prophet said:
1.
Human
affairs are of three types: One whose rightness is obvious to
you; you must follow it. And one whose error is clear to you;
you must avoid it. And one which is dubious; you must leave this
affair to God”.97
2.
The
Prophet also said: “The beliver is cosiderate, and the
hyprocrite is hot-headed”.98
Al-Salimi pointed
out five sections of ‘reservation’99 the first of which is 'reigious
reservation' (wuquf al-din) or, as some call it, ‘safety
reservation’ (wuquf al-salamah). This is the reservation about a
legally capable person whose case is unknown to the believers.
All Ibadhi scholars
agreed on this section, but did not agree on the others. The
second is reservation about an ‘associate’ (waliy) involved in
action which the believers were not sufficiently aware of to
form judgement; some scholars say that the believers attitude in
this case must be of ‘reservation’.
The third section
of ‘reservation’ is the ‘reservation’ of questioning (wuquf al
sual). It resembles the second section with the additional
stipulation that the believer should ask learned people about
the unknown action.100
The fourth section
is the ‘reservation’ about dubious matters (wuquf al-ishkal). It
is applied in the case of two ‘associates’ (awliya) who curse or
kill each other, leaving the fact of the real wrong doer unknown
to the believers. The ibadhi sources cite the case of al-Harith
and ‘Abd al-Jabbar; who were found dead with the sword of each
thrust into the body of the other. Both of them were in the
state of ‘assocaition’ (walaya) but their death left doubt in
the minds of believers about the real offender.
Sime scholars,
including Nukkar, say that it islegal to have a reserved
attitude about them; while others (i.e. Maghribi Wahbi scholars)
held the view that they should be left in their former state of
‘association’.101
The fifth section
according to al-Salimi is the ’reservation’ out of doubt (wuquf
al-shakk). This is to have a reserved attitude about all
people, and to take as ‘associates’ only those who held the same
attitude of ‘reservation’. This kind of ‘reservation’ is
considered to be illegal, because it implies the neglect of
obligatory association for those who deserve it.102
In the Pre-Islamic
period, the family (‘ashirah’), and the tribe were the most
important units in the pagan society of Arabia. In this society
an individual Arab was brought up with the sense of complete
loyalty to his family and tribe. This loyalty was not more than
“Faithful devotion to his equals; and it was closely connected
with the idea of kinship. The family and the tribe, which
included strangers living in the tribe under a convenant of
protection- to defend these, individually and collectively was a
sacred duty”. 103
It was also
required that the man must support his people even if they were
wrong. This was why the Arab poet considered friendship with his
kinsmen a matter of supreme importance:
“Take for thy
brother whom thou wilt in the days of peace, but know that when
fighting comes thy kinsman, but kow that when fighting comes thy
kinsman alone is near. Thy true friend thy kinsman is who
answers thy call for aid with good will, when deeply drenched in
blooshed are sword and spear”.104
The new teachings
of Islam, although it recognised the tribal system, it shook the
age old pagan Arab ideal of ethnic loyalty to one`s tribe and
family to its foundation. The loyalty is transferred to God and
his Prophet; its duties are religious obligations rather than
traditional duties required by honour. And, “Islam, rather than
tribal affiliation, is to be the unifying principle of
society.”105 The system of ‘walayah’ and ‘baraah’
was established don these basic principles from the very
beginning of the new Muslim community in Mecca.
On the other hand,
the tribe sometimes cannot have complete control over its
members who involve themselves in actions which create
intra-tribal and intra-family problems affecting the whole tribe
or family. To avoid the troubles caused by such irresponsible
members, the family or the tribe forsakes them. The custom in
this case as reported by al-Zawzani is that the man brings his
son to the tribal gatherings in markets and centres of
pilgrimage, and declares in public that he has repudiated his
son; so he would not be responsible for any crime committed by
the repudiated son; and also he would not claim for revenge if a
crime is committed against that son.106
The repudiated
person is known as al-khali, or al-lain, or
al-tarid.107
The first two terms were recorded in poems from al-Shammakh b.
Dirar and Imru’ulqais.108
Among the offences that make the tribe or family forsake its
member are continuos addiction to wine, and extravagant wastage
of money, as it is recorded in the ode of Tarafa b. al-Abd.109
|
ويعي
وإنفاقي طريقي ومتلدي
وأفردت إفراد البعير المعبد |
|
وما
زال تشرابي الخمور ولذتي
إلى
أن تحامتني العشيرة كلها |
This treatment of
the bad or guilty member of the tribe in pre-Islamic period
seems to be the root of the system, which came to be known
afterwards as (baraah). The Qurashites used this sort of
treatment against B. Hashim and B. Muttalib in Mecca because of
their protection of the Prophet. The document (sahifah)
written by the polytheists for this purpose states that those
who agreed on that document should neither marry the women folk
of B. Hashim and B. Muttalib, nor give women to them to marry,
and they should neither buy from them nor sell to them.110
This boycott of the Muslims and their protectors lasted more
than two or three years. Islam afterwards made a useful weapon
out of this system. The first use of this principle was made to
create a sense of homogeneity among the members of the
newly-emerging Muslim community, and to keep them in isolation
from the surrounding communities of the pagans and the People of
the Book. Then the system was altered to deal with those who
did not fulfil the duties of the new religion and obligations to
the new community. |
