Ijma' as an Important Source of Shari'ah

Mohamed Osama

900061364

The American University in Cairo

Aric 335 Term paper

Dr. Sayed Ahmad

Ijma’

As an Important Source of Shari’ah

Ijma’ is a very important source of Shari’ah and is an interesting discipline to investigate. Islamic jurisprudence “Al-Shari’ah Al-Islamia” consists of only four main sources: Qur’an, Sunnah, Ijma’, and Qiyas. Quran is the words of Allah which is considered the most and the strongest source of Shari’a in Islam. Sunnah which is the complete practice of the Prophit Muhammad; we study Sunnah from Hadith which is defined as an account of a statement action or tacit approval of the prophet Muhamamd. Ijma’ is the third source of Islamic law, and it requires the juristic consensus of the ulama’ of islam. Finally, Qiyas is the juridical analogy which is used to find an analogy between situations that happened during the prophet Muhammad’s lifetime and situations happening nowadays and apply the same hukm to them. They are divided into two types: revealed and non-revealed. The revealed sources are Qur’an and Sunnah, while the non-revealed sources are Ijma’ and Qiyas.

Usul al-fiqh is “concerned with the four sources of the shari’a, their order of priority, and the methods by which legal rules may be deduced” . So, to study ijma’ or any of the other four sources, one should be familiar with the meaning of usul al-fiqh. Fiqh is the law itself, but usul al-fiqh is the methodology of law. The word asl could mean proof, or could also mean root that is its underlying evidence. In addition, it is used as a foundation to something that is constructed. For example, when we refer to asl, this maybe Quran or Sunnah. The main aim of usul al-fiqh is to control the ijtihad and to help the jurist find the law from its sources. Since unqualified persons tried to carry out ijtihad, and the development of shar’ah was exposed to error and confusion, the need for usul al-fiqh became very important. So, usul al-fiqh helps the jurist to reach the best hukm shar’i of a particular problem. Moreover, it helps the jurist judge the strength and weakness in ijtihad.2 But what is the difference between usul al-fiqh and usul al-qanun? These two disciplines have slight differences, yet they have some points in common. They are both concerned with the methodology of the law and the rules of interpretation; they are not concerned with the rules of the law itself. The difference comes in that usul al-fiqh, on one hand, is concerned with Quran, Sunnah, Ijma’ ( juristic consensus), and Qiyas (juridical analogy). This means that a hukm shar’i may not be derived from something outside the scope of the four sources of shari’ah. For