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Assalam-un-Alaikum and Mola Ali^a.s. madad

A question, regarding the status of the fast of a zanjeer/qamah zan, has been asked repeated during the last few years, particularly during and after the morning of 19^th of Ramazan zanjeer/qamah matam. 

This question stems from the fatawa of various marja who believe that those actions which would make one to bleed would invalidate one’s fast.  We give one such reference from Agha Khoei’s book, Articles of Islamic Acts, (ISBN 0-941724-21-2, Copyright Islamic Seminary Pakistan), we qoute two fatawa from the book, page 350:

(ii)       Performing an act, which becomes the cause of weakness, e.g., blood-letting (extracting the blood from the body) or go to baths.

(viii)            Pulling out a tooth or doing something as a result of which blood comes out of the mouth.

After an extensive search for the ahadith of mosomeen a.s. regarding this issue, we have found the following Ahadith:

·       Mohammed bin Muslim has narrated from Hazrat Imam Mohammed Baqir^a.s. that while fasting, one should act normally as per his desires but should refrain from the following four acts: eating, drinking, approaching his wife and diving/submerging in the water. Also it has been narrated by Mansur bin Younis via Abu Basir that Hazrat Imam Jafar-e-Sadiq^a.s. has said whoever will attribute a lie to Allah^.swt. or/and Masomeen^a.s. his fast will become void. (Manla yaziral fakihi, vol. II)

·       Amar bin Musa Sabati has narrated from Imam Jafar-e-Sadiq^a.s. can a person, who is fasting, get his tooth removed?, Imam^a.s. replied, he should not! as blood may enter into his mouth (as a result), he should also not use a wet (green) tree branch (to clean his teeth), Faroo-e-Kafi, chapter 31, Manla yaziral fakihi, vol. II.

·       I asked from Hazrat Imam Jafar-e-Sadiq^a.s. shall a lady, subsequent to menses offer her laps prayers?, Imam^a.s. replied, No.  I then asked shall she fast (afterwards)? Imam^a.s. replied, Yes.  I asked from where you have derived these conclusions, Imam^a.s. replied the first one who made use of ‘Qias’ (speculation) was Iblis!, I then asked, one, while fasting, should not submerge his head (plunge) into pool of water? Imam^a.s. replied Yes (he should not), Shall he put a wet cloth onto his body? Imam^a.s. replied, No (he should not), I asked again, from where did you derived this, Imam^a.s. replied from as before (do not speculate). I then asked, is it not forbidden to smell a flower, Imam^a.s. replied No, as it has a nice sensation and it is ‘makruh’ (better not to smell but it is not forbidden) for a momin to indulge into fulfilling sensations.

·       Aban bin Taklab has narrated from Imam Jafar-e-Sadiq^a.s. that there is no room for comparative conclusion (Ijtehad) in deen. Dont you see ladies would need to offer their lapse fast and not salat after completing their menstruation, whereas Salat is superior to fast, when results are extracted like this then ‘deen’ will be destroyed (Asool-e-Kafi, vol 1).

·       Someone narrated the following Ait in front of Imam Jafar-e-Sadiq^a.s., ‘Tahazo …..’[1][1] meaning that Christians have deserted Allah^swt. in the favour of their scholars and peers, and requested the meaning of this verse.  Imam^a.s. replied, Christians were not asked to worship their scholars and peers, if they were asked to do so by their priests then Christians would have rejected them. Instead, their peers turned their Halal into Haram and converted their Haram into Halal.  They (Christians) followed their priests (did taqleed) and as a result had worshiped them indirectly.

The process of issuing a fatawa is based on logic, similarity and speculation, all of these have been forbidden by masomeen a.s., as presented before, finally we present another hadith from Asool-e-Kafi, vol. 1:

·       Mohammed Ibn Hakam has narrated from Imam Musa Kazim^a.s. , that may I be your ransom, we have learned the knowledge of ‘deen’ from you and we do not feel any need to ask from anyone else.  And when we meet with people in public gatherings, they ask questions from us; we are able to reply to them due to Allah^.swt.’s blessing on us because of your kindness.  But some times we are asked those questions for which we have not heard any answers either from you^a.s. or from your masoom foregathers^a.s..  Under these circumstances, we carefully analyse the situation and reply to them accordingly.

Imam^a.s. said, alas, alas, oh! ibn Hakam there is certainly destruction in it.  Whoever has acted like this has met total destruction.  Then said Allah^.swt.‘s curse may be upon Abu Hanifa who says, Ali^a.s.  says like this regarding this issue whereas my ruling is like this-meaning my statement is better than Ali^a.s.‘s., Mohammad bin Hakam said, I told this later to Hasham bin abul Hakam, by Allah, I wanted to seek permission (from Imam^a.s.) to make use of speculation/guess work in solving issues of ‘deen’.

Concluding Remarks:

We neither believe in speculative fatawa or those who issue them but only and only follow Quran majeed and Ahadith of masomeen a.s.  The authenticity of a hadith is based on the following criteria of masomeen a.s.

·       \'Rasool Allah saw, said that the sign of Iman is reflected from good deeds and light (of knowledge) is gained from Quran-e-Mohkum, Thus a hadith which is in agreement with the Book of Allah swt, accept it otherwise leave it\'

This matter is further explained by Imam Jafar-e-Sadiq a.s. when a person asked what shall we do when we hear conflicting Ahadith from those who are your (as.) trustworthy (followers)? Imam a.s. said if a hadith is in agreement with the book of Allah swt and sayings of Rasol Allah saw, then accept it otherwise leave it alone.

We do matam, including zanjeer and Qamah, out of grief and certainly daily life conditions (i.e., taking a tooth out) do not apply, we offer our condolences to masomeen^a.s. , following traditions of devout companions of masomeen^a.s., i.e., Awais Qarni, as well as examples of Ahlul bait^a.s., i.e., Upon seeing beheaded body of Imam Hussain^a.s. bibi Zainub^sa. struck her head against the wooden saddle, which made bibi^.s.a’s head to bleed, in the presence of Imam of bibi^.s.a’s time (Imam Zain ul Abadeen^as). 

During our matam, we try to vicariously relive those moments of grief which our beloved masomeen^a.s and their household were subjected to face. Upon success of battle of Jamal, a companion of Amir ul Momaneen^a.s  wished, in front of Imam^a.s , how nice it would be if his brother were also present with him.  Imam Ali^a.s asked him, did he love us, the man said, Yes mola.  Then, believe us^(a.s)  he was present with us.  And not only he but also all those (who love us) were present, within our army, who are yet in the ‘sulb’ of men and ‘raham’ of women.  They will soon be born and ‘Aman’ will be strengthened by them.