The Uniqueness of the Hanbalis in Using the Lottery in Matters of Marriage, Divorce and Lineage

Abstract

Islamic Shari'ah came to cover all aspects of life in order to achieve the interests of people, make things easier for them, resolve disputes, and establish justice. The wise Lawmaker has created multiple ways to establish justice among people, and when the ways are blocked, He has legislated legal exits such as the lottery to decide rights when their owners are equal, or to determine them in the event of a dispute or doubt. The lottery is a legal path that is resorted to when necessary. I have titled this research (The Uniqueness of the Hanbalis in Using the Lottery in Matters of Marriage, Divorce and Lineage).  This research aims to clarify the jurisprudential concept of the lottery according to the Hanbalis, explain the controls for applying the lottery, and elucidate the jurisprudential view of the objectives adopted by the Hanbalis for applying the lottery in their weighing in matters that they are unique in.

The appropriate methods used for the research are: the inductive, analytical and comparative approaches. The most important results that I have reached are:

1. The lottery in terminology is: "a legitimate means in which the appointment is delegated to God Almighty, and it is resorted to to decide rights when there is equality, or to determine them when there is a dispute, or doubt, when there are no other methods of distinction."
2. The lottery is permissible in the Book of God, and in the Sunnah of the Messenger of God, may God bless him and grant him peace, and the predecessors practiced it.
3. The origin of the lottery according to the Hanafis is prohibition, and they have applied it in two places as a matter of preference, while the majority believe that the origin of it is permissibility due to the evidence of its legitimacy.
4. The Hanbalis employed the lottery in many issues, unlike others, including the issues of marriage, divorce, and lineage. This was in consideration of the objectives of the Lawmaker in preserving interests and warding off corruption when the exits are blocked, so that many issues would not remain without a legal exit; because abandoning it when other paths are blocked would cause hardship to those charged with the duties, and would suspend the rulings. Shari'ah does not suspend rulings; rather, it urges the separation and settlement of disputes by the closest paths, so if the paths become narrow, and nothing remains except the lottery, it is the designated path, as the Lawmaker designated it in several cases, where there is nothing else, and the matter is not suspended, because suspending the matter without a ruling is one of the greatest corruptions that Shari'ah does not embrace. This indicates that Shari'ah came to make things easy for those charged with the duties and remove hardship from them.
5. The Hanbalis were the only ones who used the lottery in determining lineage, taking into consideration the desire of the Lawmaker to preserve lineages, and that resorting to lottery is better than losing the lineage of the child and leaving him in neglect without a lineage.

May God’s prayers and peace be upon our Prophet Muhammad and upon all his family and companions