Editing Ijma

{{Short description|Arabic term for consensus in Islamic jurisprudence}}
{{Usul al-fiqh}}

'''Ijma''' ({{langx|ar|إجماع|translit=ijmāʿ|lit=consensus}}, {{IPA|ar|ʔid͡ʒ.maːʕ|IPA}}) is an Arabic term referring to the [[Consensus decision-making|consensus]] or agreement of the Islamic community on a point of [[Islamic law]]. [[Sunni]] Muslims regard it as one of the secondary sources of [[Sharia|Sharia law]], after the [[Qur'an]], and the [[Sunnah]].
Exactly what group should represent the Muslim community in reaching the consensus is not agreed on by the various schools of Islamic jurisprudence.<ref>{{cite web|website=Britannica|title=Ijma | url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/ijma |access-date=23 March 2022}}</ref> Some believe it should be the [[Sahaba]] (the first generation of Muslims) only; others the consensus of the [[Salaf]] (the first three generations of Muslims); or the consensus of [[Islamic lawyer]]s,<ref name="Modarresi">{{cite book|author=Mohammad Taqi al-Modarresi|author-link=Mohammad Taqi al-Modarresi|title=The Laws of Islam|date=26 March 2016|publisher=Enlight Press|isbn=978-0994240989|url=http://almodarresi.com/en/books/pdf/TheLawsofIslam.pdf|access-date=23 December 2017|ref=Modarresi|language=en|archive-date=2 August 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190802163247/http://almodarresi.com/en/books/pdf/TheLawsofIslam.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref>{{rp|472}} the [[Ulema|jurists and scholars]] of the Muslim world, i.e. scholarly consensus; or the consensus of all the Muslim world, both scholars and lay people.  The opposite of Ijma (i.e., lack of consensus on a point of Islamic law) is called ''[[ikhtilaf]]''.

==Proof of the validity of Ijma==

=== In the Quran ===
[[Al-Shafi'i|Imam Al-Shafi'i]] was once approached by an old man who asked for proof of Ijma from the Quran. [[Al-Shafi'i|Imam Al-Shafi'i]] went home and recited the whole Quran three times. On the third recitation, he found a verse in Sura An-Nisa ([https://quran.com/4/115 4:115])   <blockquote>''"And whoever defies the Messenger after guidance has become clear to them and follows a path other than that of the believers, We will let them pursue what they have chosen, then burn them in Hell—what an evil end!"''  </blockquote>which mentions the word 'Sabeelil Mu'mineen' (the way of those of faith). [[Al-Shafi'i|Imam Al-Shafi'i]] told the old man  this verse was a proof for Ijma from the Quran and he was satisfied.  

Another proof of Ijma from the Quran is in Surah Luqman ([https://quran.com/31/15 31:15]) in which Allah mentions  <blockquote>''"and follow the way of those who turn to Me in devotion"'' </blockquote>Another proof of Ijma in the Quran is in Sura an-Nisa ([https://quran.com/4/83 4:83]) in which Allah mentions   <blockquote>''"And when they hear news of security or fear, they publicize it. Had they referred it to the Messenger or their authorities, those with sound judgment among them would have validated it. Had it not been for Allah’s grace and mercy, you would have followed Satan—except for a few."''   </blockquote>Some scholars have the opinion that Surah Al Fatihah verse [https://quran.com/1/6 1:6] and [https://quran.com/1/7 1:7] which Muslims read at least 17 times a day (in their 5 [[Salah|daily Salah]]) is also an indirect support of Ijma.    

=== In the Hadith (Sayings of the Prophet) ===
The [[hadith]] of [[Muhammad]] which states that ''"Allah will ensure my [[ummah]] will never collude en-masse upon error"''<ref>Narrated by [http://sunnah.com/tirmidhi/33/10 al-Tirmidhi (4:2167)], ibn Majah (2:1303), Abu Dawood, and others with slightly different wordings.</ref> have been mentioned in the books of [[Sahih at-Tirmidhi|Tirmidhi]], [[Ibn Majah]], [[Musnad Ahmad ibn Hanbal|Musnah Ahmad]], and [[Sunan al-Darimi|Darimi]]. This is often quoted as the primary proof of Ijma from the Hadith from the Sunni View. 

Similar hadiths are often cited as a proof for the validity of Ijma as well. 

==Usage==

===Sunni view===
Sunni scholars argued that the nature of human society was such that a community could not mistakenly agree that a statement had been made, and further that the consensus of the ''ummah'' about its inability to agree upon an error in itself certified the authenticity of this hadith.<ref name=brown-56>{{cite book|last1 = Brown|first1 = Jonathan A.C.|author-link = Jonathan A.C. Brown|title = Misquoting Muhammad: The Challenge and Choices of Interpreting the Prophet's Legacy|date = 2014|publisher = [[Oneworld Publications]]|isbn = 978-1780744209|url = https://archive.org/details/misquotingmuhamm0000brow|url-access = registration|access-date = 4 June 2018|ref = JACBMM2014|page = [https://archive.org/details/misquotingmuhamm0000brow/page/n81 56]}}</ref> [[Sunni]] Muslims and Scholars regard ijmā' as one of the secondary sources of [[Sharia|Sharia law]], just after the divine revelation of the [[Qur'an]], and the prophetic practice known as [[Sunnah]]. Thus so a position of Majority should always be taken into consideration, when a matter cannot be concluded from the Qur'an or Hadith.  

There are differing views over who is considered a part of this consensus, whether "the consensus is needed only among the scholars of a particular school, or legists, or legists of an early era, or the Companions, or scholars in general, or the entire Muslim community."<ref name="Forte-1978-7">{{cite journal|last1=Forte|first1=David F.|title=Islamic Law; the impact of Joseph Schacht|journal=Los Angeles International and Comparative Law Review|date=1978|volume=1|page=7 |url=http://www.soerenkern.com/pdfs/islam/IslamicLawTheImpactofJosephSchacht.pdf |access-date=19 April 2018}}</ref><ref>See F. Ziadeh, ''Lawyers and the rule of law, and liberalism in modern Egypt'' 146-47 (1968) supra note 4, at 118</ref><ref>see generally: K. Faruki, ''ISLAMIC JURISPRUDENCE'' 68 (1962)</ref><ref>D. Mullah & M. Hidadjatullah, ''Principles of Mahomedan Law'' xxii (16th ed. 1968)</ref><ref>Aqil Ahmad,  ''A Text Book of Mohammadan Law'' 15 (4th rev. ed. 1966), supra note 22, at 17</ref><ref>Aziz Ahmad, ''Islamic Law in Theory and Practice'' 2 (1956), Supra note 20, at 43</ref>

[[Malik ibn Anas]] held the view that the religiously binding consensus was only the consensus of Muhammad's [[Sahaba|companions]] and the direct successors of those companions in the city of [[Medina]].<ref>Muhammad Muslehuddin, "Philosophy of Islamic Law and Orientalists," Kazi Publications, 1985, p. 146</ref>

According to [[Iraqi people|Iraqi]] academic [[Majid Khadduri]], [[Al-Shafi'i]] held the view that religiously binding consensus had to include all of the Muslim community in every part of the world, both the religiously learned and the layman.<ref>[[Majid Khadduri]], Introduction to [[Al-Shafi'i]]'s [[Al-Risala (book)|al-Risala]], pg.33</ref><ref name=mansoor>Mansoor Moaddel, ''Islamic Modernism, Nationalism, and Fundamentalism: Episode and Discourse'', pg. 32. [[Chicago]]: [[University of Chicago Press]], 2005.</ref> Thus, if even one individual out of millions would hold a differing view, then consensus would not have been reached. In an attempt to define consensus in a form which was more likely to ever occur, [[Al-Ghazali]] expanding on al-Shafi'i's definition to define consensus as including all of the Muslim community in regard to religious principles and restricting the meaning to only the religiously learned in regard to finer details.<ref>[[Majid Khadduri]], Introduction to [[Al-Shafi'i]]'s [[Al-Risala (book)|al-Risala]], pg.38-39</ref>

[[Abu Hanifa]], [[Ahmad ibn Hanbal]] and [[Dawud al-Zahiri]], on the other hand, considered this consensus to only include the companions of Muhammad, excluding all generations which followed them, in Medina and elsewhere.<ref>Muhammad Muslehuddin, "Philosophy of Islamic Law and Orientalists," Kazi Publications, 1985, p. 81</ref><ref name="farooq">Dr. Mohammad Omar Farooq, "The Doctrine of Ijma: Is there a consensus?," June 2006</ref>

Views within [[Sunni Islam]] branched off even further in later generations, with Abu Bakr Al Jassas, a hanafi scholar, defining even a simple majority view as constituting consensus and [[Ibn Taymiyyah]] restricting consensus to the view of the religiously learned only.<ref name="farooq"/> [[Muhammad ibn Jarir al-Tabari]]'s position was not entirely clear, as modern scholarship has attributed to him both the view that consensus means a simple majority,<ref name="farooq"/> and that it means only the consensus of the companions of Muhammad.<ref>[[Devin J. Stewart]], "Muhammad b. Jarir al-Tabari's ''al-Bayan 'an Usul al-Ahkam'' and the Genre of Usul al-Fiqh in Ninth Century Baghdad," pg. 339. Taken from ''Abbasid Studies: Occasional Papers of the School of Abbasid Studies, Cambridge, 6–10 January 2002''. Edited by James Montgomery. [[Leuven]]: Peeters Publishers and the Department of Oriental Studies, 2004.</ref>

According to Ahmad Hasan, the majority view is split between two possibilities: that religiously binding consensus is the consensus of the entire Muslim community, or that religiously binding consensus is just the consensus of the religiously learned.<ref>Ahmad Hasan, "The Doctrine of Ijma': A Study of the Juridical Principle of Consensus," New Delhi, India: Kitab Bhaban, 2003, pg.81</ref> The names of two kinds of consensus are:
* ''ijma al-ummah'' - a whole community consensus.
* ''ijma al-aimmah'' - a consensus by religious authorities.<ref name="Standke2008">{{cite book|author=Corinna Standke|title=Sharia - The Islamic Law|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uWR_4BTqtBYC&pg=PA4|access-date=9 June 2012|date=30 August 2008|publisher=GRIN Verlag|isbn=978-3-640-14967-4|pages=4–5}}</ref>

===Shia view===
Initially, for [[Shia]] the authority of the [[Imam]]s rendered the consensus as irrelevant. With the development of sectarian communities of [[Twelver|Imami Shīa Islam]], the question of  guidance and interpretation between different [[ulama]] became an issue, however the importance of ijmā never reached the level and certainty it had in [[Sunni Islam]]. Later, since [[Safavid]] and with the establishment of [[Usuli]] school at the turn the 19th century the authority of living [[mujtahid]]  is accepted, however it dies with him. For Shia, the status of ijmā is ambiguous.<ref name="Zubaida2005">{{cite book|author=Sami Zubaida|title=Law And Power In The Islamic World|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6EFgzjDgxOsC&pg=PA14|access-date=9 June 2012|date=8 July 2005|publisher=I.B.Tauris|isbn=978-1-85043-934-9|page=14}}</ref>

===Mu'tazilite view===
The [[Mu'tazila|Mu'tazilite]] sect does not consider consensus to be a valid source of law, primarily due to their rationalist criticism of the [[Sahaba|first generation]] of Muslims, whom the Mu'tazila viewed as possessing defective personalities and intellects.<ref name=devin>Devin Stewart, "Muhammad b. Dawud al-Zahiri's Manual of Jurisprudence." Taken from Studies in Islamic Law and Society Volume 15: Studies in Islamic Legal Theory. Edited by [[Bernard G. Weiss]]. Pg. 107. [[Leiden]]: 2002. [[Brill Publishers]].</ref> Shi'ite theologians [[Al-Shaykh Al-Mufid]] and [[Sharif al-Murtaza]] held the Mu'tazilite theologian [[Ibrahim an-Nazzam|Nazzam]]'s book ''Kitab al-Nakth'', in which his student [[Al-Jahiz]] reports that he denied the validity of consensus for this reason, in high esteem.<ref>Josef van Ess, Das Kitab al-nakt des Nazzam und seine Rezeption im Kitab al-Futya des Gahiz. Gottingen: Vandenhoeck & Reprecht, 1971.</ref> Modern scholarship has suggested that this interest was motivated by the desire of Shi'ite theologians to impugn the character of the first three leaders of the [[Rashidun Caliphate]], [[Abu Bakr]], [[Umar]] and [[Uthman]].<ref name=devin/>

==See also==
{{Islamism sidebar|Concepts}}
* [[Islamic democracy]]
* [[Deliberative democracy]]
* [[Precedent]]
* [[Qiyas]]
* [[Ijtihad]]
* [[Ikhtilaf]]
* [[Ulema]]
* [[Usul al-fiqh]]
* [[Ashab al-Ijma']]

==References==
{{Reflist|2}}

== External links ==
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20060715194507/http://www.globalwebpost.com/farooqm/writings/islamic/ijma.html The Doctrine of Ijma': Is there a consensus?] by Dr. Mohammad Omar Farooq

{{Islamic philosophy}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Arabic words and phrases in Sharia]]
[[Category:Islamic jurisprudence]]