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.
This is a summary of what was presented in the audio segment of the debate of Imam al-Shafi’i, may Allah have mercy on him, on the kinds of analogy, what may be used as a basis for analogy and what may not, focusing on examples from the Sunnah, explaining the criterion that distinguishes permissible disagreement from impermissible disagreement, and clarifying the important aspects:
The kinds of analogy, what may be used as a basis for analogy and what may not:
The subject of this segment is a debate of Imam al-Shafi’i on the kinds of analogy and how to infer by it, focusing on examples on which analogy cannot validly be drawn, and explaining the criterion that distinguishes permissible disagreement from impermissible disagreement.
The main points Imam al-Shafi’i addressed in this debate:
- Specifying the general wording of the Qur’an by the Sunnah: Imam al-Shafi’i repeats his emphasis that it is permissible to specify the general wording of the Qur’an by the Sunnah, as in the question of ablution and wiping over leather socks.
- Examples from the Sunnah of what is not to be used as a basis for analogy: Imam al-Shafi’i mentions further examples from the Sunnah on which analogy cannot validly be drawn, among them:
- The musarrah: This is the ewe whose udder is tied so that milk collects in it, and the buyer thinks she gives a great deal of milk. If he buys her and then finds otherwise, he may return her together with a sa’ of dates. This is a ruling specific to the musarrah, and no other defects are to be drawn by analogy from it. A distinction is made between the milk of the musarrah, which was included in the sale contract, and the milk produced after the sale, which is regarded like revenue (kharaj) belonging to the buyer.
- “Revenue goes with liability” (al-kharaj bi-l-daman): This is a legal maxim meaning that whoever owns a thing owns its growth and its yield. This is a foundation on which analogy is drawn, unlike the ruling on the musarrah, which is an exception.
- The criterion for permissible and impermissible disagreement: Imam al-Shafi’i sets out an important criterion for disagreement among scholars, namely:
- Forbidden (impermissible) disagreement: that which contradicts an explicit text of the Book of Allah or the Sunnah of His Messenger ﷺ, or a consensus, or a clear analogy.
- Non-forbidden (permissible) disagreement: that which admits of interpretation or is reached by analogy, where the one interpreting or drawing the analogy adopts a meaning that the report or the analogy can bear, even if someone else differs from him in it.
- Examples of permissible disagreement: Imam al-Shafi’i gives examples of permissible disagreement, among them:
- Disagreement over the direction of the qiblah: If two people exercise independent judgement (ijtihad) in determining the direction of the qiblah and disagree, neither censures the other, because each of them has followed his own ijtihad.
- Disagreement over a person’s probity: If people disagree about a person’s probity (‘adalah), one does not conclude decisively that he lacks probity except by a decisive proof.
- Examples of impermissible disagreement: Imam al-Shafi’i gives examples of impermissible disagreement, among them:
- Denying the obligation of zakat on monetary currency: Denying the obligation of zakat on monetary currency (such as pounds, riyals, and dollars) contradicts the clear analogy with gold and silver, and is an impermissible disagreement.
- Analogy with the compensation for a foetus: Imam al-Shafi’i discusses the question of the compensation for a foetus and shows that it is a special case from which nothing else is to be drawn by analogy, because it differs from the ruling on the living and the dead. He shows that some scholars tried to explain it as being an offence against the mother, but this explanation is not correct. Imam al-Shafi’i considers it more likely that it is a Sunnah by which the servants are bound in worship.
- The woman who remarries after receiving news of her husband’s death, and he then appears alive: Imam al-Shafi’i gives an example of a single matter that is taken in one respect to have one ruling and in another respect to have another ruling: the woman who marries after receiving news of her husband’s death, and he then appears alive. She is entitled to the bridal gift (sadaq) from the second husband, she must observe a waiting period (‘iddah) from him, the child’s lineage is established from him, no prescribed punishment (hadd) falls on either of them, they are separated, they do not inherit from each other, and the separation is an annulment (faskh) without divorce.
Additional clarifications:
- Musarrah: the ewe whose udder is tied so that milk collects in it.
- Al-kharaj bi-l-daman: a legal maxim meaning that whoever owns a thing owns its growth and its yield.
- Clear analogy (qiyas jali): the evident analogy about which there is no disagreement among scholars.
Final conclusion:
In this debate Imam al-Shafi’i shows the kinds of analogy and how to infer by it, focusing on examples on which analogy cannot validly be drawn, and explaining the criterion that distinguishes permissible disagreement from impermissible disagreement. He clarifies that sound analogy is that which agrees with the legal proofs and takes their meanings into account, and that there are special cases on which analogy cannot validly be drawn; rather, in them one confines oneself to the text or to consensus. This segment displays Imam al-Shafi’i’s skill in debate, inference, and weighing between proofs and opinions.
All parts of Summary of the Explanation of al-Shafi'i's al-Risala by Dr. Yasir Burhami