Shurayh al-Qadi's Fatwa

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The Shurayḥ al-Qāḍī’s fatwā (Arabic: فتوى شُرَيح القاضي) is a fatwa attributed to Shurayh b. al-Harith al-Kindi, who served as the judge of Kufa during the Event of Karbala. This fatwa supposedly declared the permissibility of killing Imam al-Husayn (a). However, the fatwa does not appear in the early sources, and some scholars and researchers believe that it was fabricated.

Place and Significance

According to Sayyid Muhammad 'Ali Qadi Tabataba'i in the book Tahqiq darbara-yi awwal arba'in (Study of the first Arba'in of the Master of Martyrs (a)), many reciters of rawda quote and repeat sentences attributed to Shurayh al-Qadi as a factor contributing to the occurrence of the Event of Karbala.[1] Shurayh b. al-Harith al-Kindi, known as Shurayh al-Qadi (Shurayh the judge) held the position of judge in Kufa since the caliphate of 'Umar b. al-Khattab, the second caliph, until 78/697.[2]

The Fatwa Attributed to Shurayh

Based on the commentaries added to the Persian translation of the book al-Alfayn, the text of the fatwa attributed to Shurayh al-Qadi is as follows:

“Indeed, Husayn b. 'Ali has caused division among Muslims, has opposed the Commander of the Faithful (Yazid), and has exited the religion. This has been firmly established and proven for me. I hereby issue a ruling that he must be killed in order to safeguard the creed of the Prophet (s).”[3]

Sources

According to Muhammad Sihhati Sardurudi, a Shiite scholar of Ashura, Shurayh’s fatwa appears with slight variations in books such as Jawahir al-kalam fi sawanih al-ayyam by Hasan Ashraf al-Wa'izin, written in the fourteenth/twentieth century, and the Persian translation of al-Alfayn, written in the fifteenth/twenty first century.[4] Moreover, Qadi Tabataba'i has cited the fatwa in his books Thamarat al-anwar and Mazamir al-awliya', written in the fourteenth/twentieth century.[5] According to the book Tarikh-i jami'-i Sayyid al-Shuhada (Comprehensive history of the Master of Martyrs), Shurayh’s fatwa appears in books such as Tadhkirat al-shuhada' by Mulla Habib Allah al-Kashani, written in the fourteenth/twentieth century.[6] The story of the fatwa is quoted from 'Abd al-Nabi al-'Iraqi al-Najafi (d. 1965) as well, who also lived in the fourteenth/twentieth century.[7]

Deniers of the Issuance of the Fatwa

Muhammad Sihhati Sardurudi notes that there is no reference to such a fatwa in the text of al-'Allama al-Hilli’s al-Alfayn, and what the translator cites in his commentaries is not found in any earlier work.[8] Moreover, Sihhati mentions thirty-one earlier works in which no reference is made to Shurayh’s fatwa.[9] Qadi Tabataba'i dismisses the sources of this fatwa as invalid in his Tahqiq darabra-yi arba'in.[10] The author of the book Thar Allah believes that Shurayh’s fatwa was a false rumor. In his view, in the books on Imam al-Husayn’s martyrdom (the so-called maqatil) there are only two occasions where Shurayh is mentioned, both of which concern Hani b. 'Urwa’s arrest.[11] Moreover, the book Mashhurat bi-i'tibar (Invalid famous claims) argues that the story of the fatwa is fabricated since Mukhtar al-Thaqafi (who later waged wars in revenge of Imam al-Husayn’s martyrdom) appointed Shurayh as his judge.[12]

The authors of the book Tarikh-i jami'-i Sayyid al-Shuhada'' are of the opinion that there is insufficient evidence to support the claim that Shurayh issued such a fatwa, as they argue that the only sources that mention it date back to the fourteenth/twentieth century.[13]

Notes

  1. ↑ Qāḍī Ṭabāṭabāʾī, Taḥqīq darbāra-yi awwal arbaʿīn-i ḥaḍrat-i Sayyid al-Shuhadāʾ, p. 61.
  2. ↑ Khudāyī, Shurayḥ-i Qāḍī, zindigīnāma wa ʿamalkard, p. 99-124.
  3. ↑ Wijdānī, Tarjuma-yi al-Alfayn, p. 1004.
  4. ↑ Ṣiḥḥatī Sardrūdī, Taḥrīf-shināsī-yi ʿashūrā wa tārīkh-i Imām Ḥusayn, p. 202.
  5. ↑ Qāḍī Ṭabāṭabāʾī, Taḥqīq darbāra-yi awwal arbaʿīn-i ḥaḍrat-i sayyid al-shuhadāʾ, p. 62-63.
  6. ↑ Group of authors, Tārīkh-i qīyām wa maqtal-i jāmiʿ-i Sayyid al-Shuhadāʾ, vol. 1, p. 530.
  7. ↑ Group of authors, Tārīkh-i qīyām wa maqtal-i jāmiʿ-i Sayyid al-Shuhadāʾ, vol. 1, p. 530.
  8. ↑ Ṣiḥḥatī Sardrūdī, Taḥrīf-shināsī-yi ʿashūrā wa tārīkh-i Imām Ḥusayn, p. 201.
  9. ↑ Ṣiḥḥatī Sardrūdī, Taḥrīf-shināsī-yi ʿashūrā wa tārīkh-i Imām Ḥusayn, p. 201.
  10. ↑ Qāḍī Ṭabāṭabāʾī, Taḥqīq darbāra-yi awwal arbaʿīn-i ḥaḍrat-i sayyid al-shuhadāʾ, p. 64.
  11. ↑ ʿAndalīb, Thār Allāh, p. 126.
  12. ↑ Sulaymānī, Mashhūrāt-i bī iʿtibār, p. 255.
  13. ↑ Group of authors, Tārīkh-i qīyām wa maqtal-i jāmiʿ-i Sayyid al-Shuhadāʾ, vol. 1, p. 530.

References

  • ʿAndalīb, Ḥusayn. Thār Allāh. Qom: Intishārāt-i dar rāh-i ḥaq, 1376 Sh.
  • Group of authors. Tārīkh-i qīyām wa maqtal-i jāmiʿ-i Sayyid al-Shuhadāʾ. Qom: Muʾassisa-yi Āmūzishī wa Pazhūhishī-yi Imām Khomeiniī, 1392 Sh.
  • Khudāyī, Sayyid Alī Akbar. Shurayḥ-i Qāḍī Zindigīnāma wa ʿamalkard. Tārīkh-i Islām Journal, No. 7, Fall 1380 Sh.
  • Qāḍī Ṭabāṭabāʾī, Sayyid Muḥammad ʿAlī. Taḥqīq darbāra-yi awwal arbaʿīn-i ḥaḍrat-i sayyid al-shuhadāʾ.Third edition. Qom: Nashr-i bunyād-i ʿilmī wa farhangī-yi shahīd Āyat Allāh Qāḍī Ṭabāṭabāʾī, 1368 Sh.
  • Ṣiḥḥatī Sardrūdī, Muḥammad. Taḥrīf-shināsī-yi ʿashūrā wa tārīkh-i Imām Ḥusayn. Tehran: Chāp wa Nashr-i Bayn al-Milal, 1394 Sh.
  • Sulaymānī, Mahdī. Mashhūrāt-i bī iʿtibār dar tārīkh wa ḥadīth. First edition. Qom: Kitāb-i Ṭāhā, 1398 Sh.
  • Wijdānī, Jaʿfar. Tarjuma-yi al-Alfayn. Second edition. Qom: Intishārāt-i Hijrat, 1409 AH.
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