Seadet-i Ebediyye - Endless Bliss Second Fascicle

that it is fard to perform namâz, to fast, and to pay zakât. On the
other hand, their ijmâ’s that have been reported by one pious
Muslim are like those hadîth-i-sherîfs transmitted through habari-wâhid.
It is wâjib only to act upon them; it is not wâjib to know
[or believe] them. An example of this is to perform four rak’ats of
sunnat namâz before performing the early afternoon prayer.
There are grades of ijmâ’. Clearly stated ijmâ’s of the Ashâb-ikirâm
‘radiy-Allâhu ta’âlâ ’anhum ajma’în’ which have reached us
through the ijmâ’ of each era are as strongly authentic as âyat-ikerîmas
and hadîth-i-sherîfs called mutawâtir. He who denies one
of them becomes a disbeliever. Also, an ijmâ’ on which some of
the Ashâb-i-kirâm were unanimous while the others remained
silent is a definite dalîl; yet a person who denies it does not
become a disbeliever. The ijmâ’ of the third grade involves a rule
on which the Ashâb-i-kirâm did not disagree and on which there
has been unanimity throughout the later centuries. It is identical
with a habar (report) termed mashhûr. Next comes the ijmâ’ of
the later scholars on a matter on which the Ashâb-i-kirâm were
not unanimous; it is similar to a hadîth-i-sherîf reported through a
habar-i-wâhid. It is wâjib to act upon it, yet it is not wâjib to
believe it. When the Muslims of a certain century give various
reports disagreeing with one another on a certain matter, it is bâtil
(invalid) for their successors to reach a conclusion that would not
agree with one of these various disagreeing reports. It is,
therefore, impermissible for them to pronounce judgments
contradictory to (all) those reports.
Qiyâs means to compare something to something else. In (the
Islamic branch of science termed) Fiqh, it means: “When there
cannot be found an Islamic solution to a problem because it
cannot be understood from the Nass (i.e. âyat-i-kerîmas and
hadîth-i-sherîfs with open meanings), to solve it by comparing it
to another similar problem (whose solution is prescribed clearly
in the Nass).” That qiyâs is a dalîl, (i.e. an Islamic source) is a
traditional fact as well as a logical issue. The âyat-i-kerîma which
declares: “O ye who have reason! Take lessons!” purports,
“(Compare and) deduce what you do not know from what you
know!” For the word “i’tibâr”, (the Arabic word used in the âyati-kerîma
and which we rendered into English as “take lessons”),
means “to compare”. When Mu’âz ‘radiy-Allâhu ta’âlâ ’anh’ said
(to Rasûlullah) that he wanted to perform qiyâs when in Yemen -
because he was going to be sent out to Yemen-, the Messenger of
Allah ‘sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa sallam’ accepted and paid hamd
– 270 –