Punishment of Sahq

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A group of people came to Hazrat Ali (A) to get an problem solved by him. As Hazrat Ali (A) was not present at the moment and they were about to go back when Hazrat Imam Hasan (A) asked them about  the problem,adding that he would try to solve.  In case he was correct, it would be deemed to have been solved by Allah and  Amir-ul-Momineen Hazrat Ali (A) and if he went wrong  the responsibility would be only his. He also said that Hazrat Ali (A) was about to reach the place, but if they narrated the problem to him, he was sure to solve it (by the Grace of Allah) correctly. The people there- upon narrated the problem to him as follows :-

“A man copulated with his wife after which she copulated with a virgin whereby the virgin girl became pregnant obviously with the creative germs of the man which were still in the  womb of the wife.”

Hazrat Imam Hasan (A) said : the dower of the virgin should be exhorted from the wife of the man, because no child is born unless the curtain of virginity in the uterus of a woman is already removed.Thereafter, he advised them to wait till after the birth of the baby when her mother could be punished according to provisions of the religious law. The baby after she is born, he said, was to be handed over to her father, the husband of the woman concerned, who (the woman) would be stoned to death as provided in the religious law,

After this decision by Hazrat Imam Hasan (A) the people in question returned to their respective places, but while going back they met Hazrat Ali (A) and apprised him of the decision of Hazrat Imam Hasan (A) in their case. When Hazrat Ali (A) heard of the decision of Hazrat Imam Hasan (A) in such a difficult case he exclaimed: “ By God, had you met Abul Hasan ,(meaning himself), he would have nothing to say in the case except what Hasan has said,” (Wafi, vol. 9, p. 52, Wasael, vol.3 p. 438, also Mustadrik, vol. 3, p. 254).

Reference : Judgments of Hazrat Ali (as)