1. A number of our people have narrated from Sahl ibn abu Nasr from Muhammad ibn Sama‘ah from Zurarah who has said the following: “I once asked Abu Ja’far , about the case of a man who says to his wife,

‘You are unlawful for me.’ He (the Imam) said to me, ‘Had I control over him I would have hurt his head and said to him that Allah has made her lawful for you, then what has made her unlawful for you? In fact, the one who says it(‘You are unlawful for me’) has lied, because then he would claim that what Allah has made lawful for him is unlawful, and there is no divorce or expiation on him.‘ I then asked about the meaning of the words of Allah, most Majestic, most Glorious, ‘O Prophet, why do you make unlawful what Allah has made lawful for you’ (66:1), then expiation is made necessary.’ He (the Imam) said, ‘He only made unlawful for him his slave-girl Maria, and swore not to go near her. He made expiation necessary on him in the case of swearing, not in the case of making something unlawful.’”