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.
The chapter on ijtihad:
In this section Imam al-Shafi’i continues his discussion of independent legal reasoning (ijtihad), focusing on the hadith: “When a judge passes judgment and strives to reach the right ruling (ijtahada) and is correct, he has two rewards; and when he passes judgment and strives and then errs, he has one reward.” He explains its meaning, refutes those who declare the hadith weak, clarifies the meaning of being right and being wrong in ijtihad, and gives examples of this from the issues of the qiblah, testimony, and marriage. He shows that ijtihad consists in seeking the absent truth by means of indicators, and that the meaning of “every mujtahid is correct” is that he has done what was required of him in exerting effort, not necessarily that he has hit upon the very truth in the sight of Allah.
The main points Imam al-Shafi’i addressed in this section:
- The hadith “When a judge passes judgment and strives…”: Imam al-Shafi’i cites the hadith of ‘Amr ibn al-‘As and Abu Hurayrah, may Allah be pleased with them both, that the Prophet ﷺ said: “When a judge passes judgment and strives to reach the right ruling and is correct, he has two rewards; and when he passes judgment and strives and then errs, he has one reward.” He explains that the hadith is authentic and established, and refutes those who declare it weak.
- Explaining the meaning of the hadith: Imam al-Shafi’i explains that the hadith is an explicit text establishing that ijtihad includes error and correctness, and it is a refutation of those who say that every mujtahid is correct in the sense that he is right about the matter as it actually is. He clarifies that the meaning of “every mujtahid is correct” is that he is correct in his ijtihad, in the sense that he has done what was required of him in exerting effort, not necessarily that he has hit upon the very truth in the sight of Allah.
- Refuting those who fault the hadith: Imam al-Shafi’i explains that the criticism of the hadith is not substantiated, that the hadith is established through the narration of ‘Amr ibn al-‘As and Abu Hurayrah, may Allah be pleased with them both, and that the hadith of Abu Hurayrah is agreed upon as authentic.
- The meaning of being right and being wrong in ijtihad: Imam al-Shafi’i clarifies the meaning of being right and being wrong in ijtihad: being right is hitting upon the truth in the sight of Allah, and being wrong is failing to hit upon it; but the mujtahid is rewarded for his ijtihad whether he is right or wrong, as long as he has exerted his effort in seeking the truth. He likens this to someone who faces toward the Ka’bah by ijtihad: he may hit its exact location or he may miss it, but he is rewarded for his ijtihad.
- Applied examples: Imam al-Shafi’i gives applied examples to clarify some issues related to ijtihad:
- The qiblah: He explains that whoever faces the qiblah by ijtihad is correct in his ijtihad, whether he hits the exact qiblah or misses it, and that whoever sees the Ka’bah directly is obliged to face it exactly.
- Testimony: He explains that judgment is made on the apparent basis of testimonies, with the possibility of an error in what is hidden.
- Marriage: He explains that if a man marries a woman and it then becomes clear that she is his sister through breastfeeding, or one of his unmarriageable relatives (mahram), the marriage is void; but he is excused as long as he did not know, lineage is established, and the dower is due because of the doubt (shubhah).
- Ijtihad is seeking the absent truth: Imam al-Shafi’i affirms that ijtihad consists in seeking the absent truth by means of indicators, not in picking from the views of the scholars whatever agrees with one’s desires. He likens this to someone who searches for the Ka’bah by ijtihad: he is searching for a specific thing that exists in reality, not for mere opinions.
- Proof for ijtihad from the Qur’an and the Sunnah: Imam al-Shafi’i cites as proof of the legitimacy of ijtihad the saying of Allah the Exalted: “And it is He who placed for you the stars that you may be guided by them through the darknesses of the land and sea” (al-An’am 6:97), and His saying: “And landmarks. And by the stars they are [also] guided” (al-Nahl 16:16). He explains that these verses indicate that it is permissible to infer absent matters from apparent indicators. He also cites the hadith “When you besiege the people of a fortress…” as proof that the mujtahid acts on what has become apparent to him, without knowing with certainty whether or not it is the ruling of Allah.
Additional clarifications:
- Istibra’ (establishing that the womb is empty): a woman’s waiting for one menstrual period after she has been purchased or after her marriage has ended, to ascertain that her womb is empty.
- Ijtihad regarding the qiblah: exerting effort to determine the direction of the Ka’bah when one cannot see it.
- Testimony (shahadah): reporting something that a person has witnessed.
- Marriage (nikah): the contract of marriage.
Final summary:
In this section Imam al-Shafi’i explains the meaning of the hadith “When a judge passes judgment and strives…”, and clarifies that ijtihad includes error and correctness, and that the meaning of “every mujtahid is correct” is that he has done what was required of him in exerting effort, not necessarily that he has hit upon the very truth in the sight of Allah. He affirms that ijtihad consists in seeking the absent truth by means of indicators, not in picking from the views of the scholars whatever agrees with one’s desires, and he gives examples of this from the issues of the qiblah, testimony, and marriage.
All parts of Summary of the Explanation of al-Shafi'i's al-Risala by Dr. Yasir Burhami