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, and I bear witness that Muhammad is His servant and Messenger ﷺ.
Chapter: How is bayan given?
This chapter deals with the kinds of bayan in the Noble Qur’an and the Prophetic Sunnah, and how they are to be understood. Imam al-Shafi’i explains that bayan is a comprehensive name for meanings whose roots are united and whose branches are diverse; that is, the ways of bayan are many, but they agree in their root, which is making clear what Allah the Exalted intends.
The kinds of bayan (with clarification and reconciliation of the accounts):
At the beginning of his discussion Imam al-Shafi’i mentioned four kinds of bayan, then later detailed them as five. This is because the second and third kinds in fact fall under a single category: clarifying the summary (mujmal), specifying the general (‘amm), and qualifying the unrestricted (mutlaq). They can therefore be gathered into four main kinds, while noting the detail he mentioned:
- What Allah made clear by explicit text in His Book: This is the clearest kind of bayan, where the legal ruling is stated in the Noble Qur’an explicitly, in a way that does not admit reinterpretation. Examples:
- The saying of Allah the Exalted on the expiation for tamattu’: “And when you are secure, then whoever performs ‘umrah [during the hajj months] followed by hajj [offers] what can be obtained with ease of sacrificial animals. And whoever cannot find [or afford such an animal] - then a fast of three days during hajj and of seven when you have returned [home]. Those are ten complete [days]” (al-Baqarah 2:196). The total (“Those are ten complete”) is mentioned to confirm that the seven days are not included within the three days, and to remove any misconception that might arise.
- The account of the creation of the heavens and the earth in six days, where the verses made clear that the apportioning of sustenance took place in four days that include the first two days, so that the total is six days.
- The saying of Allah the Exalted about Moses’ appointed term: “And We made an appointment with Moses for thirty nights and perfected them by [the addition of] ten; so the term of his Lord was completed as forty nights” (al-A’raf 7:142). The total (“forty nights”) is mentioned for emphasis.
- The verses on fasting, which made clear the obligation of fasting in the month of Ramadan, and that a number of other days are to be made up in case of illness or travel.
- What Allah firmly established as an obligation in His Book and whose manner He explained on the tongue of His Prophet ﷺ (this covers the second and third kinds in the detailed division): This is what has its basic obligation stated in the Qur’an in summary, unrestricted, or general form, after which the Prophetic Sunnah came to detail its manner, qualify it, or specify it. Examples:
- Ablution (wudu’): The Qur’an mentioned the obligation of ablution and of washing the limbs, but the Sunnah explained the manner of ablution (washing once or three times), the obligation of cleaning oneself after relieving oneself (istinja’), that the ankles and the elbows are included in the washing, and that wiping the feet suffices only over leather socks. The verse: “O you who have believed, when you rise to [perform] prayer, 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).
- The bath for major ritual impurity (janabah): The Qur’an mentioned the obligation of the bath for janabah, and the Sunnah explained its details. The verse: “And if you are in a state of janabah, then purify yourselves” (al-Ma’idah 5:6), and His saying: “or in a state of janabah, except those passing through [a place of prayer], until you have washed [your whole body]” (al-Nisa’ 4:43).
- Inheritance: The Qur’an mentioned the shares of inheritance, but the Sunnah restricted the bequest so that it does not exceed one third. The verses: “And for one’s parents, to each one of them is a sixth of his estate if he left children” (al-Nisa’ 4:11), and the other verses of inheritance.
- Prayer, zakah, and Hajj: The Qur’an mentioned the basic obligation of these acts of worship, and the Sunnah explained the number of prayers, their times and their sunnahs, the kinds of zakah and their times, and the manner of Hajj and ‘Umrah. The verses: “Indeed, prayer has been decreed upon the believers a decree of specified times” (al-Nisa’ 4:103), “And establish prayer and give zakah” (al-Baqarah 2:43), and “And complete the hajj and ‘umrah for Allah” (al-Baqarah 2:196).
- What the Messenger of Allah ﷺ established as Sunnah where there is no explicit ruling in the text: This is what the Sunnah alone clarified, such as the prohibition of the domestic donkey, of every predatory animal with fangs, and of every bird with talons, and the prohibition of gold and silk for the males of the nation and their permissibility for its females. This kind of bayan rests on the obligation of obeying the Messenger ﷺ that is mentioned in the Qur’an.
- What Allah obliged His creation to reach by ijtihad: This is what has no decisive text in either the Qur’an or the Sunnah, so Allah obliged those capable of ijtihad to exert their utmost effort to derive the legal ruling from the other legal proofs. Examples:
- The qiblah when one is out of sight of the Sacred Mosque.
- Probity in testimony.
- The equivalence required in the compensation for killing game.
Summary:
Imam al-Shafi’i explains the kinds of bayan in the Shariah and stresses that the Qur’an and the Sunnah are the two fundamental sources of legislation, and that ijtihad is legitimate where there is no decisive text. He emphasises the obligation of obeying the Messenger ﷺ, that his Sunnah is a clarification of the Qur’an, and that accepting the Sunnah is accepting from Allah the Exalted. He also explains that Allah the Exalted tests His servants through different kinds of bayan in order to test their obedience.
All parts of Summary of the Explanation of al-Shafi'i's al-Risala by Dr. Yasir Burhami