a verse, and I would not do that." He left him and met a man from the companions of the Prophet (peace be upon him) and asked him about that. He said: "If I had any authority in the matter and I found anyone doing that, I would have meted out a punishment upon him." Malik said: Ibn Shihab said: "I think it was 'Ali ibn Abi Talib." He said: "And it reached me from al-Zubayr ibn al-'Awwam something similar."

5098 - Abu Sa'id ibn Yahya ibn Sa'id al-Qattan narrated to us, Abu Ahmad narrated to us, Sufyan narrated to us, from al-A'mash, from Isma'il ibn Raja', from 'Umayr, the freed slave of Ibn 'Abbas, from Ibn 'Abbas, who said: "Seven are prohibited by lineage, and seven by affinity." Then he recited: "And your mothers who nursed you and your sisters through nursing, and the mothers of your women, and your stepdaughters who are under your guardianship from your women whom you have entered into; but if you have not entered into them, there is no sin upon you, and the wives of your sons who are from your loins, and that you combine two sisters [in marriage]; this is the affinity."

5099 - Abu Zur'ah narrated to us, Musa ibn Isma'il narrated to us, Hammad ibn Salamah narrated to us, from Qatadah, from 'Abd Allah ibn Abi 'Utbah, from Ibn Mas'ud, that he was asked about a man who combines two sisters who are slave girls; he disliked it and said: "Allah the Almighty says: 'Except what your right hands possess.'" Ibn Mas'ud said to him: "Your camel is also among what your right hand possesses."

His saying, the Almighty: "Except what has already passed."

5100 - 'Ali ibn al-Husayn narrated to us, Safwan ibn Salih narrated to us, al-Walid narrated to us, Zuhayr ibn Muhammad narrated to us, from 'Ata' ibn Abi Rabah, regarding the saying of Allah the Almighty: "Except what has already passed," he said: "In their [time of] ignorance [Jahiliyyah]."

5101 - al-Hasan ibn Abi al-Rabi' narrated to us, 'Abd al-Razzaq informed us, Ma'mar informed us, from Qatadah, regarding a man who marries a woman, then divorces her before he sees her, he said: "She is not lawful for his father nor for his son." I said: "What about His saying: 'Except what has already passed'?" He said: "It was in the Jahiliyyah that one would marry the wife of his father."

His saying, the Almighty: "Indeed, Allah is ever Forgiving, Merciful."

5102 - Abu Zur'ah narrated to us, Yahya ibn 'Abd Allah ibn Bukayr narrated to us, 'Abd Allah ibn Lahi'ah narrated to me, 'Ata' ibn Dinar narrated to me, from Sa'id ibn Jubayr, regarding His saying: "Forgiving, Merciful," he said: "Forgiving for what they had committed of shirk (polytheism)."