Out of the countless judicial decisions by the Gateway of
Knowledge, the “Nafs-e-Rasool, the Commander of the Faithful Imam Ali (a.s.), a
selection of such decisions is appended below:
As per Kulayni, during the time of Imam Ali (a.s.) worldly
khilafah, two men approached in his presence. Each one claimed himself to be
the master and the other as his slave. Imam Ali (a.s.) asked them to come the
next day. He (a.s.) ordered Qambar to make two holes in a wall wide enough to
place a man’s head. When they returned the next day, he asked both to place
their heads in the hole. He (a.s.) said to Qambar, “Cut off the head of the
slave!”. The real slave quickly withdrew his head while the real master
peacefully kept his head in the hole. The Imam reprimanded the salve.
Sarui reported in Irshad that two women claimed to the mother
of a child. The judge could not resole it, hence he referred it caliph Omar who
also could not resolve it. Naturally Mushkilkusha Imam Ali (a.s.) was requested
to help. He (a.s.) asked the women whether they had any objection if the child were
cut into two and one part was given to each of them. One of the women agreed to
it, but the other started crying and said to Imam Ali (a.s.), “O abul Hasan! I
forego my claim. Give the child to this woman.” Thus, the child was restored to
the real mother who started crying.
Once, a black man to caliph Omar and complained that and
his wife both were black, but she had given birth to a child of red color. He
alleged that she must have committed adultery with some man who had the same
color as the child. The caliph could not resolve the matter and as usual the
Mushkilkusha Imam Ali (a.s.) was requested for help. He (a.s.) asked the black man,
“If I ask you a question, will you answer it correctly?” He replied in affirmative.
He (a.s.) asked, “Did you ever had intercourse with your wife during her
monthly course?” The man replied in affirmative. Imam Ali (a.s.) said, “The
color of the child is the result of that very act of yours. You yourself is at
fault not your wife!”
A soldier in the Muslim army had stayed with his wife for
six months, his wife gave birth to a child and claimed that it was his child.
The soldier refused to accept it reported to caliph Omar who ordered the woman
to be stoned to death. Imam Ali (a.s.) was also present there and he pointed to
the caliph that the Glorious Qur’an had fixed the time of pregnancy and the
time of nursing of a child as thirty months,, and at another place time of
nursing as complete two years. These two years if deducted from the combined
time of pregnancy and nursing, the time of pregnancy remained only six months
i.e. the minimum. The caliph Omar, on hearing this, said, “Had not there been
Ali, Omar would have gone to dust” and released the woman!
A woman was brought to the caliph Omar accused of
committing adultery. The caliph Omar ordered her to be stoned to death. As she
was being taken for execution, she saw Imam Ali (a.s.) on the way. She cried for
help and Imam Ali (a.s.) was requested to hear her plea. She narrated, “I took
some of the family camels for grazing. I felt thirsty. I had no water with me nor
available nearby. Nearby there was a man who had some water. When I requested
for water, he refused to give it unless I agreed to commit adultery with him,
but I refused. When I felt very thirsty and was about to die of thirst, I
agreed under compulsion though, to allow him to fulfill his carnal desire.” On
hearing the woman’s story, Imam Ali (a.s.) exclaimed, “The one who is compelled
by circumstances in case he or she is not disobedient and does not exceed the
limits of law and go beyond the
restrictions put on him or her by Allah, they are not responsible for any crime
committed under such circumstances.” Hearing this the caliph Omar released the
woman. (Manaqib, Bihar, Riaz etc.)
Asbagh bin Nabata reported that five persons were brought
to the caliph Omar who sentenced them all to stoning to death. The Commander of
the Faithful Imam Ali (a.s.) when heard said that the judgement was wrong. He
(a.s.) heard them separately and awarded them different punishments as follows:
To the first he awarded the punishment of beheading,
stoning to death to the second, whipping to the third and half of the full
punishment to the fourth. He set free the fifth after awarding him an ordinary
punishment. The caliph Omar asked Imam Ali (a.s.0 to explain his above
decisions.
Imam Ali (a.s.) replied, “The first of them is a Zimmi
(the one who pays a certain amount to an Islamic State for the safety of his
life) who has committed adultery with a Muslim woman; the second is a married
man whose punishment under the religious law is stoning to death; the third is
an unmarried man who stands to be punished under the same law by whipping; the
fourth is a slave whose punishment in case of adultery is fixed by the
religious law is half of the full punishment for that crime; the fifth of them
is half-mad and has been awarded an ordinary punishment.”
The caliph Omar said, “May I not live in the nation
wherein there is no Abu Hasan (a.s.) for solving such problems.”
Source:
Duas.org (46/20) TAHAWWUR
ALI MIRZA
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