Akhbaris and penalty for tatbir

Overview: As a follow-up to the earlier post regarding the Akhbari view of tatbir, this post highlights the fatwa about the required penalty for tatbir. While the previous post had mentioned the penalty for inflicting cuts/scratches on others (including with their consent), this post mentions the explicit fatwa about the required penalty for doing tatbir specifically on one's self. Similar to the previous post, this post does not cover the views of earlier Akhbari scholars as tatbir did not exist in their time so they did not speak about it. Interestingly, while many Usuli scholars have also discouraged or prohibited tatbir, to varying degrees, however - as far as I know - none have imposed a penalty for it.

Note: Since tatbir is a modern phenomenon, to investigate the Akhbari view of tatbir, one needs to examine the views of latter and contemporary Akhbaris. For this purpose, this post covers the view of the contemporary well known traditional Akhbari, Al-Asfoor family in Bahrain (Shaikh Yusuf al Bahrani was their most famous scholar). This post does not cover the views of modern Indian Akhbaris*.

أكد تحريم فقهاء الشيعة للتطبير‮.. ‬العصفور‮:‬
التطبير طارئ على البحرين وهو ليس من الشعائر الحسينية
جريدة الأيام ـ   الاثنين  21  يناير 2008

(Press release headline on website of Shaikh Muhsin Al al Asfoor, for his meeting with 'Al-Ayyam' newspaper on Monday 21 January 2008) Confirms Shia jurists' prohibition of tatbir.. Al-Asfoor: Tatbir is a state of emergency on Bahrain and is not a part of symbols of [mourning] Hussain.

كتب‮ - ‬محرر الشؤون المحلية‮:‬

Written by editor of local affairs

أشاد قاضي‮ ‬محكمة الاستئناف العليا الشرعية الجعفرية الشيخ محسن العصفور بالبيانات التي‮ ‬أصدرتها المآتم والحسينيات في‮ ‬المحرق والدراز ودمستان ضد ممارسة التطبير في‮ ‬عاشوراء وإعلانها عدم تحمل مسؤولية تصرفات المطبرين خلال مواكب العزاء‮.‬
ودعا العصفور الى منع بقية المطبرين في‮ ‬بقية المناطق من هذه الممارسة التي‮ ‬وصفها إنها طارئة على البحرين وعلى الممارسات العزائية عند الشيعة‮.‬
وأكد العصفور خلال لقاء مع‮ »‬الأيام‮« ‬حرمة ادماء الرأس والجسم،‮ ‬ووجوب الكفارة على المطبرين بصيام شهرين متتابعين او اطعام ستين مسكيناً  عن ارتكاب هذا الفعل،‮ ‬ووجوب دفع دية الشجاج على من‮ ‬يقوم بإدماء الآخرين وشج رؤوسهم‮.‬
واضاف أن فقهاء البحرين الأقدمين ومنهم الشيخ‮ ‬يوسف والشيخ حسين والشيخ عبدالله الستري‮ ‬وبقية فقهاء الشيعة في‮ ‬النجف وقم ولبنان‮ ‬يحرمون إدماء البدن ووجوب الكفارة بدون مسوغ‮ ‬شرعي

Judge of Ja'fari Shariah Supreme Court of Appeals, Shaikh Muhsin al Asfoor, praised the statements released by Hussainias and mourning centres in Muharraq, Diraz and Damistan in opposition to the practise of tatbir on Ashura, and their declaration of non-liability for actions of those doing tatbir during azadari processions. Al-Asfoor also called for forbidding rest of the tatbir practitioners in rest of the regions from this practise, which he described as being a state of emergency on Bahrain and Shi'ite azadari rituals.

During meeting with "Al-Ayyam", Al-Asfoor stressed on the prohibition of blood letting from the head and body, and the obligation of kaffarah on the ones doing tatbir, to fast for two consecutive months or feed sixty needy people due to carrying out this act; and the obligation of paying injury compensation on the one who does blood-letting of others and slashes their heads. He added that the earlier jurists in Bahrain - including Shaikh Yusuf al Bahrani, Shaikh Hussain [Al al Asfoor] and Shaikh Abdullah al Satri - and rest of the jurists in Najaf, Qum and Lebanon prohibited blood-letting and ordained kaffarah [for it] if done without religious justification.

*Robert Gleave, in his book "Scripturalist Islam_ The History and Doctrines of the Akhbari Shi'i School" (page 300) provides the following information about contemporary Indian Akhbaris:

 There remains to this day a vibrant Akhbari community in Hydarabad*. Whether these modern Indian Akhbaris should be seen as a continuation of the school of the early Akhbari Husayn b. Shihab al-Din al-Karaki, or connected with Mirza Muhammad's influence or as an entirely different branch of the school, requires further research. 

*Led by one Syed Waheed Uddin Hyder Jaffery Akhbari, see www.akhbari.org (accessed 30.6.06).