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.
Continuing the discussion of the general and the specific and the specification of the generality of the Qur’an by the Sunnah:
- An example from the Qur’an and Sunnah in ablution (continued):
- The Qur’anic verse: “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).
- Imam al-Shafi’i holds that the default for the feet is washing, by analogy with the face and the hands.
- But the Sunnah specified this generality by wiping over leather socks (khuffs): the hadith of Hudhayfah that the Prophet ﷺ performed ablution and wiped over his khuffs, and the hadith of al-Mughirah ibn Shu’bah: “Leave them, for I put them on while they were pure.”
- The condition for wiping over khuffs: that they be put on in a state of purity.
- A khuff is not a sandal (na’l): the khuff is soft, while the sandal has something hard underneath. Socks are treated by analogy as khuffs, and boots are treated by analogy as sandals. Sakhakhin (cloth wrapped around the feet) are treated by analogy as khuffs.
- The hadith of ‘Awf ibn Malik that the Prophet ﷺ, at Tabuk, commanded wiping over khuffs. The scholars disagree over whether the command to wipe was at Tabuk or in the expedition of al-Muraysi’.
- The Sunnah clarified that washing the feet is specific to some of those performing ablution (those not wearing a khuff or sandal).
- An example from the Qur’an and Sunnah in theft (continued):
- The 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:
- There is no amputation for fruit or for kathar (palm pith). Taking what falls from trees is not considered theft unless it is done with the intention of stealing or the person is not in need.
- Amputation applies to stealing something worth a quarter of a dinar or more. Determining the value of a quarter dinar is referred to custom (‘urf).
- The stolen item must be in a place of safekeeping (hirz, a protected place). If property is found in an unprotected place, the one who takes it is a sinner, not a thief.
- The hirz is the place in which a thing is kept and protected.
- An example from the Qur’an and Sunnah in fornication (continued):
- The 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 hadith of Ma’iz and the Ghamidi woman.
- An example from the Qur’an and Sunnah in the spoils of war:
- The Qur’anic verse: “And know that anything you obtain of war booty - then indeed, for Allah is one fifth of it and for the Messenger and for [his] near relatives and the orphans, the needy, and the [stranded] traveler” (Al-Anfal 8:41).
- The Sunnah specified “the near relatives” as Banu Hashim and Banu ‘Abd al-Muttalib.
- All of Quraysh are relatives of the Prophet ﷺ, but the fifth was specified for Banu Hashim and Banu ‘Abd al-Muttalib.
- The kinship of Banu Hashim and Banu ‘Abd al-Muttalib is stronger than that of the rest of Quraysh.
- Salab (personal spoils): what is taken from the enemy by force while he is advancing (during the fighting). Ghanimah (booty): what is taken from the enemy while he is retreating (after the fighting has ended or the enemy has fled). The hadith: “Whoever kills an enemy fighter, his personal spoils are his.”
- The story of Abu Qatadah and the polytheist who was about to kill a Muslim, so Abu Qatadah killed him and took his personal spoils.
Conclusion: From the preceding examples it is clear that the Sunnah specified the generality of the Qur’an in several matters. Were it not for the Sunnah, we would have ruled by the outward sense of the Qur’an in many issues and fallen into errors.
Chapter on the explanation of Allah’s obligation in His Book to follow the Sunnah of His Prophet ﷺ (to be addressed later).
We ask Allah for success and right guidance.
All parts of Summary of the Explanation of al-Risala by Shaykh Dr. Ahmad al-Naqeeb