Hundred Questions - Marriage of Imam
Marriage of Imam
Q98 Is it correct that some people say that the true Imam does not marry Isma`ili girls because being his followers, they are his spiritual daughters and an Imam should not marry his spiritual daughters?
A98 No. It is absolutely wrong. To believe that it is not lawful for the Imam to marry an Isma`ili girl has nothing to do with reality. If someone is interested in understanding this problem in detail, he should see the chapter on marriage in Da`a'imu'l-Islam, the famous book on Isma`ili jurisprudence, and also the sunnat of the holy Prophet, and the collective conduct of the pure Imams, so that he may have proper knowledge of the fundamental points in this connection.
Here first of all it is important to know that in Islam there is a scope for marriage and the lawful wife, in which all those [categories] of women are mentioned from whom a Muslim can choose one for his marriage. Now from this scope of legitimacy, if somebody chooses a woman for marriage according to his discretion and expediency, how can one think that whoever he chose for marriage was the only one lawful for him?
Thus if the Imam marries a girl from other than an Isma`ili family, this wisdom-filled choice is within the scope ordained by the Islamic law mentioned above.
God knows how this wrong notion has come about that the "Imam cannot marry a daughter of his followers for she is his spiritual daughter", despite the fact that such a marriage is never prohibited for a prophet, an Imam, Pir or murshid. For becoming a follower is a spiritual relationship, whereas marriage is a physical relationship, and they are two different things.
Except for the wives of Hazrat-i Nuh (May peace be through him) and Hazrat-i Lut (May peace be through him), the rest of the wives of the Prophets were pious Muslims as well as the spiritual daughters of their husbands. The wives of all the Imams are in the same position and so is the honourable Begum of the present Imam, our Lord Shah Karim al-Husayni (May peace be through him).
Further, the marriage that we are discussing here is physical and the sense in which Isma`ili girls are Imam's daughters belongs to the spirit and spirituality. Then how can physical marriage be unlawful and prohibited with a spiritual daughter, while in the spiritual sense the wife of the Imam herself automatically becomes his spiritual daughter and while the wives of all of us are our spiritual sisters?
Probably some people have wrongly thought that when the Imam marries a girl from a non-Isma`ili family, it is done with the purpose that she will remain non-Isma`ili. But this notion is glaringly based on falsehood, for the Imam's honourable Begum before or after the marriage accepts Isma`ilism and automatically becomes his spiritual daughter. And truly speaking we should believe in this way about the honourable Begum Salimah Sahibah, for according to Isma`ilism, she is included in the luminous family of the Imam of the time.
The holy Prophet said to Imam `Ali (May peace be through him): "O `Ali! I and you are the parents of the faithful men [and faithful women]". This shows that the Prophet's honourable wives were like his spiritual daughters and Hazrat-i Fatimah (May peace be through him) with Imam `Ali (May peace be through him) had the same position spiritually. Similarly, the Imam and Bab, i.e. the supreme Hujjat in every age are the parents of the faithful men and women. This is indeed in a spiritual sense and not in any physical sense.
From the above discussion it becomes vividly clear that when the Imam marries a girl from a non-Isma`ili family, it does not mean that he cannot marry a daughter of one of his followers according to shari`at. Rather, in his wisdom-filled act there are numerous expediencies hidden for the world of Islam and humanity, in addition to his followers, which nobody except the people of wisdom understand. Their explanation however, is not necessary in this answer.
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