عصمت

العِصْمة

In the lexicon, ismah is the act of preventing and protecting; the jurists also use it of the marriage bond, as in the Qur'anic reference to the bonds with unbelieving women ¹. As a term it has three senses: the protection God gives a person from sins; the protection that makes a person and his property sacred, so that retaliation or compensation is due on violating it; and the protection that makes violating it sinful without retaliation or compensation ^{1 2}. The text states that the messengers are protected from sins after their mission, and that on their prior state the sound view it records is that they were free of every defect ^{1 2}. Sacredness of life and property is gained by the testimony of faith, and by a covenant of protection such as a treaty or safe-conduct ^{2 3}. The marriage bond ends by annulment, as for apostasy or defect, or by divorce; the husband normally holds the power of divorce, and a wife holds it when he delegates it to her or when she stipulated it ^{3 4}.