The Musnad Zayd on marriage of muhsan

Asalam-O-Alaikum!

I was reading over Musnad Zayd and I found a narration that rather confused me, considering your expertise regarding this area I was wondering if you could clarify for me. The hadith I am having trouble with is this one: 

"Imam Zaid bin Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) narrated that Ali bin Abu Talib (may Allah be pleased with him) said, “No Muslim man becomes Muhsan (i.e. liable to the prescribed punishment for fornication or adultery) with a Jew or Christian woman or with a slave-girl or a minor girl.” :‫باب العيب يجده الرجل بامرأته‬ "
Does this mean that if a man has premarital sex outside of marriage ‬with a Jew, Christian or Minor Girl then he is not liable to any punishment? How do we reconcile this with verses in the Quran that have said only those whom you are married to and those whom your right hand possesses are allowed to have sex with? And also what about this "minor girl" thing, doesn't this take all responsibility off child rapists?

Forgive me if I sound critical, I am clueless in Zaydi hadith and I just want knowledge in making my decision whether to convert. Please answer soon! Allah hafiz!

wa alaykum as salaam wa rahma!

Thank you for your question! I think the root of the problem is that you are looking at the information in the parentheses instead of the actual text of the report. The term muhsan refers to a consummative marriage. So, it is basically saying that a Muslim male is not considered a part of a consummative marriage with any of the aforementioned women. This doesn't mean that the prescribed punishment of flogging is not applied to the violator; it just means that he is not stoned since he would not be considered in a consummative marriage. 

For example, if a Muslim male were married to a minor with whom he does not have intercourse, and he fornicates with another woman, he would be flogged and not stoned even though he is technically married. This is because his marriage with the minor is not considered consummative since his wife is not of age to have intercourse. (Ref. Ahkaam)

As for the slave girl, if a man were to marry her and she is of sound mind and able to have intercourse, the marriage would be considered consummative. The meaning of the report in the Musnad is that possessing a slave girl (without marrying her) is not considered a consummative marriage.  

As for the Jewish and Christian wives, they are not considered consummative marriages because marriage with them is invalid. There are some narrations in the Musnad Imam Zayd that seeming permits marriage with Jewish and Christian women, but such reports are either subject to reinterpretation or shown to be inauthentic.  

Hopefully this clears things up!

And Allah knows best!

IRS

Salaams!

Thank you for your question! We've addressed it  here . 

And Allah knows best!

IRS