Ṭūmār (5)

 Among the criticisms of Mohammad ibn Ismā’īl Bukhārī, the author of the book "al-Jāmi' al-Ṣaḥīḥ", is the refutation and invalidation of his fatwa regarding the prohibition and sanctity of marriage between two infants who have been nursed by the milk of the same animal during the period of fosterage. This fatwa led to Bukhari's expulsion from Bukhara and became symbolic of his deviance in Islamic jurisprudence. This fatwa's attribution to Bukhārī is ancient and venerable in Sunni jurisprudential-historical sources. Alongside the criticisms of Sunni scholars on this fatwa, in recent centuries, some Shia researchers have also criticized this fatwa, highlighting its weaknesses and flaws. The defence of Bukhārī's issuance of this fatwa denies its authenticity, attributing it to opponents of Bukhārī and considering such deviant and flawed fatwas as an undermining of Bukhārī's jurisprudence. Among the recent defenders of Bukhārī is Dr. Nabīl Balhī, who, in his recent research, not only denies the attribution of this fatwa to Bukhārī but also provides a rebuttal to criticisms by Shia researchers against the fatwa attributed to Bukhārī. Balhī has reintegrated the issue of fosterage from Shia jurisprudential heritage similar to the fatwa attributed to Bukhārī, thereby considering the criticisms levelled against Bukhārī's fatwa as an intrusion into Shia jurisprudence. In part of his research, he refers to the fatwa of Qāḍī Ibn Barrāj, a Shia jurist from the 5th century, who declared the consumption of animal meat which consumed milk from a human after birth, as reprehensible. Balhī, through a comparative approach of these two fatwas, warns Shia critics of Bukhārī's Ṣaḥīḥ collection to refrain from criticizing Bukhari, as similar contentious fatwas exist in the heritage of Shia jurisprudence. The main issue of this article is to validate Nabīl Balhī's research methodology and his presuppositions in critiquing Shia jurisprudence, with a focus on Ibn Barrāj's fatwa, analysed through a critical analysis approach.