In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. All praise is due to Allah. I bear witness that there is no god but Allah, alone, without partner, and I bear witness that Muhammad is His servant and Messenger ﷺ.
Chapter: Clarifying what was revealed in the Book as outwardly general, which combines the general with the specific:
Imam al-Shafi’i devotes this chapter to explaining one of the kinds of bayan (clarification) in the Noble Qur’an: the general term that is intended to be general in its original usage but may be specified by another proof. He distinguishes this kind from the preceding kind, in which the wording was outwardly general but what was intended by it was specific from the outset.
Examples from the Noble Qur’an:
Imam al-Shafi’i cites examples from the Noble Qur’an to illustrate this kind of bayan:
- “O mankind, indeed We have created you from male and female and made you peoples and tribes that you may know one another. Indeed, the most noble of you in the sight of Allah is the most righteous of you” (al-Hujurat 49:13):
- The general: His statement “indeed We have created you from male and female” is general and includes all human beings.
- The specific: His statement “Indeed, the most noble of you in the sight of Allah is the most righteous of you” is specific to those who are legally responsible (mukallaf), that is, the mature and sane, who can be described as having righteousness (taqwa).
- “O you who have believed, decreed upon you is fasting as it was decreed upon those before you that you may become righteous” (al-Baqarah 2:183):
- The general: The address is general to the believers.
- The specific: Those not legally responsible are excluded from it, such as the insane and children below the age of discernment, as are women in menstruation and post-natal bleeding.
- “Indeed, prayer has been decreed upon the believers a decree of specified times” (al-Nisa’ 4:103):
- The general: The address is general to the believers.
- The specific: Those not legally responsible are excluded from it, such as the insane and children below the age of discernment, as are women in menstruation and post-natal bleeding.
A principle of usul al-fiqh:
Imam al-Shafi’i establishes an important principle of legal theory: after a specifying proof has come upon a general term, the general term remains a proof in its generality for whatever has not been specified. That is, we can still argue from the general wording in the cases other than those the proof has specified. In this he differs from some scholars of legal theory who hold that, once specified, a general term is no longer fit to be used as proof of generality.
Examples from the Prophetic Sunnah:
Imam al-Shafi’i cites examples from the Prophetic Sunnah to illustrate the specification of the general in the Qur’an:
- Bequests and inheritance: The general verses on bequests and inheritance were specified by the Prophetic Sunnah, which made clear that a bequest may not exceed one third, and that debt takes precedence over both bequest and inheritance.
- Washing the feet in ablution: The verse “wash your faces and your forearms to the elbows and wipe over your heads and wash your feet to the ankles” (al-Ma’idah 5:6) apparently requires washing the feet, but the Sunnah specified this by permitting wiping over leather socks (khuffs) for one who put them on while in a state of purity.
- Cutting off the hand of the thief: The verse “[As for] the thief, the male and the female, amputate their hands” (al-Ma’idah 5:38) apparently requires cutting off the hand of every thief, but the Sunnah specified that amputation applies only to a theft reaching a set minimum value (a quarter of a dinar or more), and to what was taken from a place of safekeeping (hirz).
- Flogging the fornicator: The verse “The [unmarried] woman or [unmarried] man found guilty of sexual intercourse - lash each one of them with a hundred lashes” (al-Nur 24:2) apparently requires flogging every fornicator, but the Sunnah specified that the hundred lashes are for the two who have never been married, whereas the one who has been married (thayyib) is stoned. (Here the commentator points to the scholars’ disagreement on this issue, as some of them hold that the married person is both flogged and stoned.)
Chapter: Clarifying what was revealed in the Book as outwardly general, all of which is intended as specific:
Imam al-Shafi’i devotes this chapter to explaining another kind of bayan: the general term that is intended as specific from the outset, rather than being general in origin and then specified.
Examples from the Noble Qur’an:
Imam al-Shafi’i cites examples from the Noble Qur’an to illustrate this kind:
- “Those to whom people said, ‘Indeed, the people have gathered against you, so fear them’” (Al ‘Imran 3:173): The word “people” here is outwardly general, but what is meant is particular people (Abu Sufyan and those with him).
- “So when the Qur’an is recited, then listen to it and pay attention that you may receive mercy” (al-A’raf 7:204): The address is directed to those praying in the prayer.
- “Then depart from the place from where [all] the people depart” (al-Baqarah 2:199): “The people” here means the pilgrims standing at ‘Arafah.
- “whose fuel is people and stones” (al-Baqarah 2:24): “People” here means the disbelievers.
- “And ask them about the town that was by the sea” (al-A’raf 7:163): “The town” here means the people of the town.
- “and we did not testify except to what we knew. And we were not witnesses of the unseen. And ask the city in which we were and the caravan in which we came - and indeed, we are truthful” (Yusuf 12:81-82): “The city” and “the caravan” here mean the people of the city and the people of the caravan.
Summary:
In this part Imam al-Shafi’i explains the difference between the general term that is intended as general and is then specified, and the general term that is intended as specific from the outset. He stresses the importance of understanding the indications of words and of context in order to understand the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of His Messenger ﷺ.
All parts of Summary of the Explanation of al-Shafi'i's al-Risala by Dr. Yasir Burhami