Tajaddud al-Masarrat bil-Qasm bayn al-Zawjat
- Author died
- 1069 AH
- Editions
- Manuscript published for the first time in al-Maktaba al-Shamela
Tajaddud al-Masarrat bil-Qasm bayn al-Zawjat (Renewing Joys Regarding Equal Division Among Wives) is a short legal treatise on Hanafi jurisprudence written by the Egyptian jurist Hasan ibn Ammar al-Shurunbulali (d. 1069 AH / 1659 CE) . The work examines the legal requirements of marital rotation and equal overnight division (al-qasm) among wives and concubines .
Composition and Occasion
Al-Shurunbulali completed the treatise in the month of Jumada al-Ula 1043 AH (November 1633 CE) . He composed it as an answered legal ruling (fatwa) addressing a specific scenario: a man married to two wives divided his nights equally between them, but additionally owned concubines (jawarin milk yamin) with whom he stayed overnight at will between his rotations with his wives. The question asked whether spending nights with concubines under such a schedule was legally forbidden or permissible . Al-Shurunbulali noted that the ruling on this rare question required searching extensive legal sources, extracting material primarily through Ibn al-Humam's Fath al-Qadir .
Contents and Legal Rulings
The treatise establishes the core rulings of marital rotation according to the Hanafi school:
- Obligation of Rotation: Equal division applies by law strictly to free contracted wives, not to concubines or female slaves, for whom no legal entitlement to rotation exists . The husband is required to ensure equality between wives in overnight companionship (al-baytutah) and company (al-taʾnis), rather than in copulation or emotional inclination, drawing on وَلَنْ تَسْتَطِيعُوا أَنْ تَعْدِلُوا بَيْنَ النِّسَاءِ وَلَوْ حَرَصْتُمْ ("You will never be able to be equal between wives, even if you should strive") and the hadith of A'ishah .
- Staying with Concubines or Alone: Once the husband completes a full cycle of nights among his wedded wives, he is not prohibited in judicial terms (qada'an) from spending certain nights alone or with his slave concubines and mothers of his children (ummahat al-awlad) before beginning a new cycle .
- Single Wife and Extra Nights: Al-Shurunbulali examines the position regarding a man married to only one wife who spends his nights in worship, citing the retracted and adopted views of Abu Hanifah, Qadi Khan, al-Muntaqa, Taqi al-Din al-Shumumni's gloss on al-Nuqayah, and al-Tahawi's Mukhtasar . He also recounts the historical arbitration by Ka'b ibn Sur during the caliphate of Umar ibn al-Khattab regarding the woman whose husband neglected her bed due to worship .
- Supplementary Marital Rules: The treatise concludes with a section (tatimmah) on broader marital obligations, including kind treatment, conditions governing obedience to the husband, illness and travel in relation to rotation, and the allocation of domestic labor based on the precedent of Ali ibn Abi Talib and Fatimah .
Manuscripts and Publication
Manuscript copies of the treatise are preserved in several collections, including al-Azhar Library in Cairo (under manuscript numbers 324472, 306209, and 303840), the Zahiriyya Library in Damascus (MS 5349/16), the Rashid Efendi Library in Kayseri (MS 1344/16), and the Maktabat al-Haram al-Makki in Mecca . A critical edition of the text was prepared by Abu al-Mundhir Mahmud ibn Muhammad al-Minyawi based on the Azhar manuscripts .
Answer updated