Suhaib Webb – Usul al Fiqh Lesson Five Imam alHarmain’s Definition of Fiqh & Some Parameters of Ijtihad
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Knowledge of Sharia rulings
whose method,
right, the of of extracting them and and
coming to conclusions
about them is
ijtihad. How do we become aware of these
rulings?
Right? We say that is
the
exertion
of a scholar
to extract a scholar of Islamic law to
extract a ruling from the sources of Sharia.
The word istambat, actually the Muslim bit, you
know, in ancient times as I heard from
doctor Salah Sultan,
may Allah free whom he is in jail
in Egypt is
to extract water from the desert. That's the
Muslim, but so the faqih,
the mushtahid is the one who extracts water
in the desert of this dunya. Allahu
Akbar. From the sharia, which is the oasis,
which brings life to people.
But here, Imam al Haramain, he does something
very important. He provides a definition of fiqh,
which he doesn't provide in other texts. As
I mentioned previously,
this text is a summary of another book,
a luma, of Sayna Imam Sharazi.
So so here, he's not necessarily giving you
this as his opinion. He's just sharing with
you,
right,
a abridgment or a summary of another text
to make things easy for you.
And what he says is that fiqh
is the ability to
extract the knowledge of rulings
that came through Ijtihad.
When does Ijtihad happen? We're gonna talk about
this in greater detail in the future, but
let's just give a few examples.
Ijtihad,
really what he means here is what Imam
al Bayji in
Ihkam talks about.
PS.
In the Borhan,
his his greatest book in all Surufic,
Sayna Imam
Al Haramain
says that he has
is
the crown of the
and Imam
and
when when they talk about the they
say
Like with the ith Jihad, now someone becomes
the extension of the office of Sharia.
Although, of course, their conclusions as Al Qarafi
mentions are not
are not binding on people. Right? That will
be the difference. Right? They're not muqaddas.
They're not they're not
holy,
which is incredible. We'll talk about that in
the future. But when when does isjtihad happen?
I'll give you just 3,
easy easy kind of, examples of this. And
in the future inshallah, we get to the
chapter on we can elaborate on this in
other books,
and a little bit in the
number 1
is in right is in the
the authenticity of a text and of course,
this is talking about because the Quran
and there's no on the Quran.
As far as
its authenticity.
And when we talk about
in hadith, of course, it means like if
a hadith is weak, when can you use
weak hadith? The hadith is is fabricated.
But here we're talking about when scholars differ
over
the authenticity of the hadith or if the
hadith is authentic.
Even if it's authentic, can it be used
for proof?
So an example of the first is the
hadith.
Right? There is no inheritance
for some there is no,
you know, you cannot bequeath something
after your death to someone who is one
of your inherent going to inherit from you.
This hadith related by
have differed over the authenticity of this hadith
forever.
Of course, the opinion
actually was the opinion of the of
Madina, Right? Ma'Shak Mohammed al Bakr, Sayna Imam
Jafar al Sadiq. And of course this is
carried over into Madhab Jafari. That's a different
discussion. But amongst the Sunnis,
right, this hadith has been debated on.
And finally you find, like, an ijma on
on on this hadith, but
the the actions of the hadith. But on
the authenticity of the hadith,
that's a different issue.
The second is a hadith is authentic but
can it be used for proof?
So the hadith is authentic, but is it
allowed to be used
for whatever reasons? For example,
the hadith that the ummah is going to
divide into 73 *. Right? Many ulama consider
the hadith.
Many ulama consider it a few ulama the
the minority actually consider it sound. And then
there's a group of people who say the
hadith is sound, but it is impossible to
use as an evidence for a number of
reasons. For example,
and so on and so forth.
Here's an example of a hadith,
which some consider sahi,
so it's different over its
authenticity, and then there are some who
consider it authentic
but say that it cannot be used for
ihtiyj,
for proof.
This happens quite a bit, by the way.
So here's
So two things.
The second
is. What is the meaning of the text?
What does it mean?
So, for example, Farsilu
Juhakum
Allah says wash your face. There's more than
like 9 different opinions about what is the
face. Here the difference is not in the
wudur of the nafs or the sehat Sahit
of the Nas. It's in the Quran.
It's not around the authenticity or existence of
the text. It's in Dalar at the Nas.
What is the what does the what does
the text signify?
What does it mean?
For example, the hadith of the prophet
you know, if I had wood, I would
take that wood more or less the meaning
and go and burn down the homes of
the people who don't come to the jama'ah.
SubhanAllah, we find the minority,
say
this is a this hadith proof that you
have to,
right, you have to come to the mosque
if you can and pray for the min.
Right?
Then we find the majority, they say no.
You don't have to go to the mosque
and pray.
What is the evidence that both of them
use? The same evidence.
So the Hanav say that the the Hanabilah
say that the threat to burn down the
house,
halas.
The others, the Sadat al Hanafiyyah, Sadat al
Malakiyyah, and
other Matahib,
they said no. No. Because the prophet didn't
burn down their houses.
So since he didn't burn down their houses,
Meqenunafid.
He didn't actually implement this threat nor did
any of the Khalifa, nor did any of
the Sahaba, nor did anybody else, and destroying
property is generally forbidden in Islam.
So this is like hyperbole,
a form of rhetoric, balahaha. So here we
see the same text
with 2 different understandings.
Khalas. This is a lot actually.
Actually it's a lot. It's very interesting. You're
like, oh, wow. They differ. Then you find
they actually differ using the same text. Look
at the beauty in Rahmah of Islam and
how we should be more tolerant and merciful
of one another, more patient with one another.
And then the 3rd, and we'll stop here
as far as on
is
There is no text.
What do you do then? Imam al Shafi'i
said rahiimuhullah
that the text of Sharia are limited, but
the actions of the worshipers of Allah are
not limited. So there has to be something
that comes between them. Here he's talking about
al maqasil sharia
walqiyas,
and here's where qiyas comes. Maqurul
asl.
So for example, you have, you know, something
which is like
egregious and problematic,
but you don't have a text for it.
So it's gonna fall under the general idea
of Mus'alih al Mafasid.
But that's not enough. We have to be
careful of that because that leads to irresponsibility.
Is there a text that speaks to this
issue?
The is the one who is the one
who measures you like the tailor, bespoke.
So how does
this ruling measure with this ruling?
The point is now I want you to
know that there's more examples of when ishdiad
happens, but 3 major ones.
Number 1 is the authenticity of a text
or can it be used for. Right? Can
it even though it's authentic, can it be
used for proof?
The third is
so authenticity,
number 1. Authenticity to be used,
number 2.
Number 3 is the significance and meaning of
the text, number 3,
And then number 4 is
There is no
text.
So
Imam Al Haramain, he's like he's restricting fiqh
to issues of istihad.
Whereas in other books, he
says
Right? In other like in Burhan, he widened
Sharia to include not only issues of but
something else.
But what we infer now and maybe it's
important that he introduces it to the beginning
student because the beginning student tends to be
very uptight, you know. I remember in Azhar,
when people would start arguing and fighting, some
of the older students would say,
Like this guy's in the 1st year. Why?
Because he argues all the time. He's uptight,
man. Calm down, bro. The 4th year, everything's
cool. Everything's gravy.
SubhanAllah.
So I remember one time, Sheikh,
one of our professors, he said to a
student, this must be your first day.
The way that you're arguing about everything is
like your first day, your first hour
because you're so immature. Your mind is so
myopic. You're not able to
appreciate
as Sayna Imam Omar Ibn 'Abdul Aziz said,
alhamdulillah sahaba different because if there was only
one opinion, it
would be hard on people.
SubhanAllah.
So
what we understand is that there's another tariq
which is not and this is called Alqatayat.
Those things which everybody knows.
It doesn't need scholarship.
That's why Imam Al HaTab says
In the text, he says, you know, that
the scholars and the non scholars, they know
this.
Doesn't need scholarship. So istihad needs scholarship.
Istihad
has the added addition of the mind. So
therefore, we understand something, that on the issues
of isjihad, there's going to be differences. There's
going to be a plethora of differences, and
that's why Imam,
al Muhali, he says and he gives a
number of examples.
Like the intention for. Scholars differ. The Hanafis
take an opinion. The Sha'afis take opinion. And
and Imam Muhali Muhali, what he tends to
do is give you the two opinions, the
Hanafis, the Sha'afis, the Sha'afis, the Sha'afis. Al
Habab comes and adds, when needed, the Madki
opinion,
subhanAllah, in in his critical,
notes. So for example, in wudu, is the
niya
from the foundations of wudu or not? According
to the Ahnaf, no. According to the the
rest, yes.
Except in Tayamun, they both say, you know,
here's ahanaf say yes.
Then he says, you know, in in zakat
sabi,
right, does a child have to pay Zakah?
There's a difference of opinion on this.
Right? Related to text.
The
is related to understanding a text.
Is related to understanding a text.
According to some. Then he mentions,
or the,
zakat
on permissible jury.
And here we find the ulama differ. Right?
These are issues of ish jihad. And then
he says,
and someone is their qiyas,
does someone have to be punished if they
accidentally kill someone with a heavy heavy object?
Here also I want you to pay attention
that many of the prints out there says
Right? Premeditated
murder.
This is why you have to read with
teachers, man, because I've seen this in prints
and it's a mistake. Because number 1, premeditated
deliberate murder,
right, is not from istihad.
That's from Sharia,
from Al Qata'iyat.
But here, Sheikh Imam Mihari is
giving examples
of ishtihad.
Right?
Is there zakat for a child?
Is there a cut on permissible jewelry?
Is there
for someone who kills someone accidentally with a
heavy object?
But what he wants to do is show
you the example of these differences. So as
we finish,
as we take it step by step by
step by step, we went through this definition
of saydna imamal haramein,
packed some important stuff
and then gave some examples of isjihad, when
isjihad, the 3 different types of isjihad
up till now that you had know about,
and then we gave examples of istihadat
found in the in the text, which are
largely rooted in the first and,
the first and sec second examples I gave
you.
And now that takes to having etiquette and
add up with one another. Anything that comes
from ishtihad, from qualified scholars, we should respect
it. We should not divide. If we're imams,
if we're teachers, we should talk about those
things with respect even if we differ with
those people. We should say these are opinions
that are founded in the sources of Sharia.
I don't agree with it. I I I
passionately don't agree with it, but I respect
that those people have this position. And this
is how we unite the ummah and not
split the ummah. We
ask Allah