The Life & Character of the Seal of Prophets (sa) - Volume II — Page 232
Seal of the Prophets - Volume II 232 When a state of affairs came about that women were taken captive, and the disbelieving people would consider it lawful to treat the Muslim women in any way desirable, it was also necessary to institute a special law so that the inevitable and dangerous results of this conduct could be prevented. Albeit, in the current era, the disbelieving people do not treat the Muslims in this manner, and even if women are imprisoned, they are kept as state prisoners. Therefore, according to the fundamental Qur’ānic injunction mentioned above, in this era it would be unlawful for Muslims to take disbelieving women as captives without any real necessity or to give them into the custody of individual Muslims after their being taken captive, and thus practice a form of enslavement. 1 At this instance, the doubt may arise in someone’s heart that in certain circumstances the verdict of the Islāmic Sharī‘at is something, and in others, it is something else. The answer is that such a practice is not a deficiency, rather, if one contemplates, it is this very point that is evidence of the complete and universal nature of the Islāmic Sharī‘at. For this proves that varying circumstances have been fully taken into account by the Islāmic Sharī‘at. On the one hand, certain injunctions, which are fundamental in principle, have been kept in a firm and unchangeable nature, where there is no room for alteration. On the other hand, there are many such injunctions as well where the form of the commandment is flexible along with a change in circumstances; or in accordance with varying circumstances there is room for modern, but lawful interpretations of the law. As such, the Holy Qur’ān states itself: Meaning, “God has revealed the Holy Qur’ān in a form where certain verses are decisive in meaning, i. e. , which are fundamental principles that are applied in all circumstances in the same manner - and there are others that are susceptible of different interpretations, i. e. , they possess such flexibility as can take on different forms which are similar to one another in varying circumstances. ” 2 1 Derived from Chashmah-e-Ma‘rifat, Rūḥānī Khazā’in, Volume 23, p. 253 (Footnote), Edition 1 2 Āl-e-‘Imrān (3:8)