> QUESTION: Supposing that a man hath wed a certain > woman believing her to be a virgin and he hath paid her > the dowry, but at the time of consummation it becometh > evident that she is not a virgin, are the expenses and the > dowry to be repaid or not? And if the marriage had been > made conditional upon virginity, doth the unfulfilled > condition invalidate that which was conditioned upon > it?
Baha'u'llah invited Zaynu'l-Muqarribin, the eminent scribe and copier of Tablets, to ask Him questions about the laws of the Aqdas. Muqarribin was a mujtahid before becoming a Baha'i -- and I believe that is the same rank called "ayatollah" today. They were called upon to make formal rulings and apply Islamic jurisprudence to the issues of the day. So Baha'u'llah asked an eminent (former) Muslim judge to ask Him questions, and this is how the Tablet of Questions and Answers came into being. If you read any works on Islamic law, you see the kinds of issues that arose in Muslim societies. My point is that the subject matter of the Questions and Answers strikes me differently than the subject matter of the Aqdas itself. In the Aqdas, Baha'u'llah is revealing guidance on matters He deems to be worth His while, and worth the attention of the human race. In the Questions and Answers, he deigns to answer the questions of a Muslim jurisprudent, and the agenda and priorities are those that arose when Muqarribin was functioning in that role. I may well be wrong in my views, but that's how I see it. Regardless of the content of the Questions, Baha'u'llah's answers reveal the seeds of jurisprudence that will be applied by the House of Justice in the centuries to come. Brent ---------- You are subscribed to Baha'i Studies as: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Baha'i Studies is available through the following: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] http://list.jccc.net/cgi-bin/lyris.pl?enter=bahai-st news://list.jccc.net/bahai-st http://www.escribe.com/religion/bahaist (public) http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED] (public)
