The scholar "Muhammad Al-Bahi" and the impact of the humanities on family fatwas

We saw in our previous articles the impact of the fatwas of the scholar Sheikh Dr. Muhammad Al-Bahi (former Egyptian Minister of Awqaf) in the social sciences, whether at the general level, or at the level of fatwas of faith, which is clearer in his fatwas related to the family, including marriage or divorce, or family relations between families, and what we often find fatwas for him about the relationship with parents and daughter-in-law, or the relationship between the suitor and the fiancée, or that the girl is the guardian of herself upon marriage, which is also evident in what we have mentioned above Al-Bahi uses the humanities and employs them with the sciences of Sharia and jurisprudence, in an unprecedented way at the level of fatwas.

Based on the humanities in the fatwa, he wants to convince this generation, which was invaded by the ideas of the West, and invaded by traditions coming from here and there, so it was necessary to state the fatwa as a legitimate opinion, but it reaches it from the entrance to psychology and sociology, in which he was specialized in study and teaching, which we will see clearly in the models that we mention in our article on his fatwas related to the family.

Human conscience before fatwa and judiciary

The follower of the fatwas of Al-Bahi with regard to the family and social relations, will notice the secret of his permanent return to the human sciences in these fatwas, as he set his sights on a rule that he reached, in which he said: "The lesson in the solution and sanctity is not the fatwa or the judiciary, but it is due to the meaning of religiosity and fear of God, or to the human conscience in man and the Messenger of God peace be upon him in what he says: "But I am a human being, and you are divided against me, and perhaps some of you will make his argument from others, so I will judge for him as I hear, and whoever I judge against his brother will not take it. He wants to draw the attention of the believers to the fact that the lesson in what is permissible for a person and what is forbidden to him is not the judge's judgment or the mufti's fatwa, but first by returning to the questioners themselves and by reviewing their consciences.

This is evidence of two things:

First: The importance of the existence of religiosity in the human being, and religiosity is a psychological meaning that questions man and monitors his behavior and thinking self-control.

The second thing is that Islam trusts the individual human being, and leaves it to his faith and conscience, before the ruling of the judiciary and the opinion of the authors of the fatwa."

A social interpretation of the guardian's requirement in marriage

The audience of jurists requires the presence of the guardian in marriage, and away from their difference in the permissibility of a woman to take over her marriage contract herself, and after Al-Bahi mentioned their disagreement, in one of his fatwas about that, we found him provides an important social explanation for the presence of the guardian in the contract, and that his requirement is for a social interest in favor of the girl, and not forcing her to marry someone she does not love, he said:

"Islam guarantees a woman – a garment or a virgin – her opinion and her will in marriage, and coercion in its view invalidates the marriage contract, just as it invalidates any behavior that comes from a coerced person.

The presence of a daughter's guardian is not a necessity for the validity of the marriage contract with her, as long as she is rational and able to adjudicate on her private matters, and the presence of the guardian with the firstborn in marriage is more like a family necessity or a social necessity. His presence is considered only as a guarantee of the husband's good choice of her, as he is the closest person to her, the most affectionate and affectionate to her, and more than an experience in the field of marriage and in the field of practical life alike. Therefore, it was the custom – or custom – for the guardian to enter into the marriage contract on her behalf."

Al-Bahi explained why the guardian is the one who is contracting the marriage on behalf of his daughter, saying: "First, because she is not embarrassed and ashamed if she presents herself to her husband by saying your wife is myself."

Second: To notify the husband that he shares with his daughter the moral responsibility of this contract.

Third: To reassure his daughter as she will move from a family in which she grew and flourished to a new experience in which she hopes for success, without trusting the troubles and difficulties that tomorrow holds for her, as if his presence with her in the marital contract provides her with financial support in her future life.

The models that we have given in linking Dr. Muhammad Al-Bahi to the humanities with fatwa and legislation, clearly indicate the importance of arming the jurist or scientist with these sciences

Divorce of those who insult religion psychologically not religiously

Al-Bahi was asked about a man whose nervousness reached him until he insulted religion, because of a dispute between him and the family of his wife, who contracted with her and did not enter into it, so does divorce occur here because of insulting religion when angry? After answering the question in terms of divorce or not, and that it does not fall here because it is in a state of anger, and his condition is not intended to insult religion in the sense of disbelief, citing the Almighty's saying: "Except for those who hate and whose heart is assured by faith" Al-Nahl: 106, considering anger here what a person is hated.

But Al-Bahi completed in his fatwa the psychological view on the subject in terms of the continuation of marriage or not, he said: "This is from the legal point of view, but from another psychological point of view: that the man whose emotion reaches him to insult religion and disbelieve in it, and he does not have his conscience, nor his religion, nor his personality, upbringing and guidance as a watchdog, accompanies his emotions and emotions, and controls them, before they express themselves in a behavior that offends him, or others with him. Such a man is of weak character, and therefore does not believe in the consequences of his weak character in marital cohabitation, or in the treatment of those who mix with him.

The factors are now available in the lack of confidence in this future marriage, whether on the part of the wife and her underlying emotions and actions expressing these emotions, or on the part of the husband and the weakness of his own authority over his own actions and emotions when excitement and anger. The first is then divorce, as it is the solution to alleviate the harm in marital cohabitation, if it turns out that it is useless to start it, or not to continue cohabitation."

A sophisticated human interpretation of the guardianship of men

Among the touches of high maturity and understanding of the Holy Qur'an, in the question of the degree to which a man is distinguished in the marital relationship, which many interpreted as guardianship, we find Muhammad Al-Bahi adds to this interpretation another important interpretation, based on the spirit of the Qur'an and Islamic legislation, as he says:

"The degree to which the verse assigns to men in saying: 'Men have a degree' is neither the degree of sovereignty, nor the degree of privilege, otherwise the marriage contract would be an unequal or symmetrical contract. Inequality – or non-uniformity – invalidates any contract in Islam. But what is meant by the degree of humanity in treatment, the degree of politeness and superiority in the good ten. The meaning of men having a higher degree than women means that if the rights between the two are the same, then the man is nevertheless expected to be more generous in his treatment, to be benevolent, not to be literal, but to give to her more than he takes from her."

Linking the psychological and medical aspect to religion in the fatwa

One of the signs of Al-Bahi, may God have mercy on him, linking the humanities and the fatwa is what we see in his fatwa when a wife asked him, saying that she has 3 children, and the contraceptive pill is very harmful to her, and causes her many pains, and her husband suggested that she undergo sterilization surgery to ensure that she does not have children, so should she do this operation? In his answer to the question, Al-Bahi dealt with the various aspects of the fatwa, as the religious aspect of it precedes and is accompanied by other important aspects, and Al-Bahi replied:

"The sterilization process, which the questioner asks about, has several aspects:

The first aspect is the medical aspect, that is, the aspect that is decided by a doctor who trusts him, in his experience and advice.

The second aspect: It is the psychological aspect, that is, the aspect from which the impact of this process on the wife's psyche is evident. She will have many questions about her future if her husband dies while she is still of childbearing age, if one of her three children dies, or if she divorces and has another husband.

The third aspect: It is the religious aspect, i.e. the opinion of Islam, after the impact of the two previous sides is revealed, and Islam's opinion on this is closely related to the solution and sanctity with the positive and negative results of what medicine decides in this process, or what appears from the psychological impact of its own.

If the honest medical expert says that this operation on the liquid has side effects that harm her in the future, the opinion of Islam is that sterilization is prohibited for her, and if this operation from the psychological side will cause her disorder and anxiety in the psyche of the questioner, then the opinion of Islam is not recommended to perform it for her."

The models that we have mentioned in linking Al-Bahi to the humanities with fatwa and legislation in his book, clearly indicate the importance of arming the jurist or scientist with these sciences, which is evident in the fatwas of Al-Bahi, who mixed thought with jurisprudence and legislation, and made them in one direction, without contradiction between them, with a strong ribbing of the Holy Qur'an, and Islamic jurisprudence.

A few models have been shed, otherwise returning to the book will put in the hands of the reader clear models of what we mentioned, such as his talk -for example- about the ruling on a mother breastfeeding her son for two years, and why? His talk about the fact that mother's milk here is not only a health service for her son, but a humanitarian service for the child and society, as it contributes to the existence of a psychologically and socially healthy person through the emotions and psychological fruits he sips with breastfeeding, and his talk about the philosophy of inheritance in Islam, and the goal of marriage, are all fatwas that clearly indicate his good use of the humanities in the fatwa, to be a contemporary scientific and intellectual model for this combination of them.