Maʿānī al-ʾAkhbār

حدثنا أبي - رضي الله عنه - قال: حدثنا سعد بن عبد الله، عن الهيثم بن أبي مسروق النهدي، قال: حدثنا الحسين بن علوان، عن عمرو بن خالد، عن زيد بن علي، عن أبيه علي بن الحسين، عن أبيه الحسين، عن أبيه علي بن أبي طالب عليهم السلام قال: قال رسول الله صلى الله عليه وآله: العجماء جبار، والبئر جبار والمعدن جبار، وفي الركاز الخمس. والجبار الهدر الذي لا دية فيه ولا قود.

1. We were told by my father, may Allah be pleased with him, that he said: We were told by Sa’d bin Abdullah, from Haitham bin Abi Masruq al-Nahdi, that he said: We were told by Hussain bin ‘Alwan, from Amru bin Khalid, from Zaid bin Ali, from his father, Ali bin Hussain, from his father, Hussain, from his father, Ali bin Abi Talib, peace be upon them, that he said: The Messenger of Allah, Allah’s blessings be upon him and his Family, said: A beast is a jubar, a well is a jubar, metal is a jubar and there shall be one-fifth for rikaz. Jubar is (the act of) killing in vain, for which there is no indemnity nor retaliation.

أخبرنا أبو الحسين محمد بن هارون الزنجاني، قال: حدثنا علي بن عبد العزيز عن القاسم بن سلام أنه قال: العجماء هي البهيمة وإنما سميت عجماء لأنها لا تتكلم و كل من لا يقدر على الكلام فهو أعجم ومستعجم ومنه قول الحسن عليه السلام: " صلاة النهار عجماء " يقول: لا تسمع فيها قراءة، وأما الجبار فهو الهدر وإنما جعل جرح العجماء هدرا إذا كانت منفلتة ليس لها قائد ولا سائق ولا راكب، فإذا كان معها واحد من هؤلاء الثلاثة فهو ضامن لان الجناية حينئذ ليست للعجماء وإنما هي جناية صاحبها الذي أوطأها الناس. وأما قوله: " والبئر جبار " فإن فيها غير قول ، يقال: إنها البئر يستأجر عليها صاحبها رجلا يحفرها في ملكه فينهار على الحافر فليس على صاحبها ضمان. و يقال: إنها البئر تكون في ملك الرجل فيسقط فيها إنسان أو دابة فلا ضمان عليه لأنها في ملكه.

We were told by Abu’l-Hussain, Muhammed bin Harun al-Zanjani, that he said: We were told by Ali bin Abdul-Aziz, from Qasem bin Salam, that he said: A beast is an animal, and it was named a beast [1] because it does not speak, and everything that is unable to speak is a’jam [2] and musta’jam. From this stems the saying of Hasan, peace be upon him: «The prayer of the daytime is ‘ajma.» He is saying: Recitation shall not be heard during it. As for jubar, it is to kill in vain. The wound of a beast was only declared to be vain in the case it is loose, having to leader, nor puller, nor rider. If one of these three was with it, he is a guarantor, because the offense therein would not be (legally made) to the beast, but it would only be an offense to its owner who allowed people to ride it. As for his saying: «a well is a jubar» it has more than one saying. It is said: It refers to a well whose owner hires a man to dig it in his property, and it collapses on the digger. Hence, there is no assurance upon its owner. It is also said: It is a well that is in a man’s ownership, and a human or an animal fall into it. Hence, there is no assurance upon him, because it is in his ownership.

وقال القاسم بن سلام: هي عندي البئر العادية القديمة التي لا يعلم لها حافر ولا مالك تكون بالوادي فيقع فيها الانسان أو الدابة فذلك هدر بمنزلة الرجل يوجد قتيلا بفلاة من الأرض لا يعلم له قاتل فليس فيه قسامة ولا دية. وأما قوله: " المعدن جبار " فإنها هذه المعادن التي يستخرج منها الذهب والفضة، فيجيئ قوم يحتفرونها لهم بشئ مسمى فربما انهار المعدن عليهم فيقتلهم فدماؤهم هدر لأنهم إنما عملوا بأجرة. وأما قوله: " وفي الركاز الخمس " فإن أهل العراق وأهل الحجاز اختلفوا في الركاز فقال أهل العراق: الركاز المعادن كلها، وقال أهل الحجاز الركاز المال المدفون خاصة مما كنزه بنو آدم قبل الاسلام.

Qasem bin Salam said: According to me, it is an ordinary well to which it is not known any (particular) digger, nor owner, but which lies in a valley, and so a human or an animal fall into it. Hence, that is (considered to be) a vain death. It is like a man who is found killed in an open land, by which it is not known for him any killer. Hence, there is no retaliation, nor indemnity for him. As for his saying: « metal is a jubar» they are these metals from which gold and silver are extracted, by which some people would come to dig them up for them for a defined thing [1], and the metal would perhaps collapse on them and kill them. Hence, their blood were shed in vain, because they only worked in return for a reward. As for his saying: «and there shall be one-fifth for rikaz», the people of Iraq and the people of Hijaz have disputed with regards to rikaz. The people of Iraq have said that rikaz refers to metals, all of it, and the people of Hijaz have said that rikaz refers exclusively to buried property among what the sons of Adam have stored before Islam.