IJMA:

 Secondary sources of Islamic law

 Literal meaning: agreeing or uniting in opinion
 Islamic Jurisprudence: consensus of Islamic community on some point of law about which
primary sources are silent
 View of Muslims has been that this should be the function of Ulemas alone who are well versed
in the science of law which requires deep study
 (Holy Prophet’s refs regarding Ijma)
 Examples of Battles of Uhud and Trench, and Treaty of Hudaibiya (exp)
 Anything becoming part of the Shariah during Prophets life is regardied as “Definitive type of
Ijma”
 Ijma is of three types:

Consensus of Companions:
 Universally accepted, unchangeable
 Appointment of caliphs after Prophet’s death
 Compilation of the Holy Quran
 Giving structure to Islamic state
 Any other policy-related decision

Jurists and Scholars:

 Religious authorities and scholars
 Sufficient knowledge of Quran, Sunnah, Fiqh, Arabic grammar and other sciences in the field of
religion
 (i) explicit ijma: opinion of all jurists and stating them explicitly
 (ii) silent ijma: one or more gives his opinion and rest remain silent

Common people/masses:
 General body of muslim community
 Elections in a democratic state

QIYAS:

 Opinion adapted to the changing requirements of Islamic Shariah

 Literal meaning: comparing and analyzing
 Uses human reasoning to compare an existing situation with one which already exists
 Process of legal deduction in which jurists confront an unprecendented case and form their
logical argument based upon Quran and Sunnah
 Interrogating the legality of situations
 E.g. of conversation btw Holy Prophet and Muaz bin Jabal
 Prophet tried to give answers in analogical form to train people into legal thinking
 E.g. of woman asking the Prophet whether she could perform Hajj on deceased father’s behalf
  Four essential elements to effectuate Qiyas: Far, Asl, Illah, Hukm
 E.g. of wine-> all substances which have the same effect as wine shall be banned (exp)
 Should not be based upon effective cause which can not be understood for e.g. circling the
Ka’abah seven times, number of Rakaat in prayer etc
 Should not be specific to the original case only; for e..g regarding the permission for the Holy
Prophet of marrying more than 4 wives
 Death of the Prophet deprived Muslims of means of receiving revelations and guidance
 Forced Muslim Ummah to regulate their conduct from their own opinion and reasoning

REJECTION OF QIYAS:

- Detailed description already in the Holy Quran

- Shouldn’t put yourself forward before Allah and His Prophet
- Not something on which ‘public’ agrees upon
- Cannot be used to answer essential questions of belief such a investigate matters regarding
Allah’s nature and attributes