In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. All praise is due to Allah, Lord of the worlds, and may blessings and peace be upon the noblest of the prophets and messengers, our Prophet Muhammad, and upon all his family and companions.
This is a summary of what was presented in this part of the explanation of Imam al-Shafi’i’s book al-Risala, focusing on the important points and clarifications.
Chapter on what was revealed as general, where the Sunnah specifically indicated that the general is intended, and what was revealed as general, where the Sunnah specifically indicated that the specific is intended:
This chapter deals with the specification of the generality of the Qur’an by the Sunnah, and it is a response to some of the Mu’tazilah who denied that this is permissible. A title for the chapter: “The permissibility of specifying the general wording of the Qur’an by the Sunnah.”
- Examples from the Qur’an and Sunnah in inheritance:
- The general Qur’anic verses on inheritance: “And for one’s parents, to each one of them is a sixth” (An-Nisa 4:11); “And for you is half of what your wives leave” (An-Nisa 4:12); “And for them [i.e., the wives] is one fourth” (An-Nisa 4:12); “And if a man or woman leaves neither ascendants nor descendants but has a brother or a sister, then for each one of them is a sixth” (An-Nisa 4:12).
- Al-kalalah: one who dies leaving neither parent nor child.
- “After any bequest which was made or debt, as long as there is no detriment [caused]” (An-Nisa 4:12): the inheritance is distributed after the debt has been paid and a non-harmful bequest has been carried out.
- The Sunnah specified these general rulings with conditions:
- Sameness of religion (Islam): the hadith of Usamah: “The disbeliever does not inherit from the Muslim, nor the Muslim from the disbeliever.” And the hadith: “The people of two different religions do not inherit from one another.”
- Not being a killer: the hadith of ‘Amr ibn Shu’ayb, from his father, from his grandfather: “The killer inherits nothing.” There is consensus that the one who kills deliberately does not inherit. There is disagreement about one who kills by mistake, and the more cautious view is that he too does not inherit, since there is a possibility that it was deliberate.
- Not being a slave: there is consensus that the slave does not inherit.
- The hadith of the man who bequeathed the freeing of all his slaves, so the Prophet ﷺ drew lots between them, freed two, and returned three to slavery. This is evidence that a bequest is not carried out if it harms the heirs.
- The Sunnah also clarified the amount of the bequest: the hadith of Sa’d ibn Abi Waqqas: “A third, and a third is a lot.” The bequest does not exceed a third, and it is better for it to be less than that (a quarter).
- The Sunnah also clarified that debt takes precedence over the bequest and the inheritance: the hadith of Ibn Majah from Sa’d ibn al-Atwal about paying off his brother’s debt before distributing the inheritance; the hadith: “Your brother is held back by his debt”; and the Prophet ﷺ asking about debt before praying the funeral prayer.
- The rights of human beings take precedence over the rights of Allah.
- An example from the Qur’an and Sunnah in ablution:
- The general Qur’anic 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). There are multiple readings of the word “arjulakum” (your feet), in the genitive and in the accusative.
- The Sunnah clarified that washing the feet applies when one is not wearing leather socks (khuffs), while if one is wearing khuffs one wipes over them: the hadith of al-Mughirah ibn Shu’bah: “Leave them, for I put them on while they were pure.”
- Wiping over khuffs is a concession for the traveler (three days and their nights) and the resident (a day and a night).
- An example from the Qur’an and Sunnah in theft:
- The general Qur’anic verse: “[As for] the thief, the male and the female, amputate their hands” (Al-Ma’idah 5:38).
- The Sunnah specified this generality with conditions:
- There is no amputation for fruit or for kathar (palm pith).
- There is no amputation except for stealing something worth a quarter of a dinar or more.
- Determining the value of a quarter dinar is difficult because the value of currencies differs across eras. In this, reference is made to custom (‘urf).
- Theft is taking another’s property secretly from its place of safekeeping (hirz).
- Amputation is the prescribed punishment (hadd) for theft, and there is also discretionary punishment (ta’zir).
- An example from the Qur’an and Sunnah in fornication:
- The general Qur’anic verses: “The [unmarried] woman or [unmarried] man found guilty of sexual intercourse - lash each one of them with a hundred lashes” (An-Nur 24:2); “If they should commit adultery, then for them is half the punishment for free [unmarried] women” (An-Nisa 4:25).
- The Sunnah clarified that the hundred lashes are for the unmarried fornicator, while the married adulterer (muhsan) was stoned by the Prophet ﷺ.
- The Sunnah also clarified that amputation for theft applies to stealing something worth a quarter of a dinar from a place of safekeeping.
Conclusion: From the preceding examples it is clear that the Sunnah specified the generality of the Qur’an in several matters, including inheritance, ablution, theft, and fornication.
All parts of Summary of the Explanation of al-Risala by Shaykh Dr. Ahmad al-Naqeeb