Episode 43: Types of the Sunnah in terms of its reference to rulings (7 - 7)
Third, summary and balancing between the two opinions:
The one who ponders over the proofs of both teams finds out that the disagreement between them is just verbal. They agree that there are new rulings that do not exist clearly in the Qur'an.
However, the majority of scholars say: This is the meaning of "independence of legislation" because it is constitution to rulings that do not exist in the Qur'an.
As for Imam Ash-Shatiby and those who adopt his view, although they do not admit that these rulings exist in the Qur'an, they do not mean that the rulings of the Sunnah do not contain extra rulings, but they admit them. However, they say: These rulings do not constitute new rulings but they contain explanation to the rulings of the Qur'an by divine inspiration, revelation, and divine support. (1)
Imam Ash-Shatiby mentioned six points in the statement of the opponents who said that all the rulings mentioned in the Sunnah are mentioned also in the Qur'an. (2)
After reviewing those points, we realized that the disagreement in the five points is just verbal and no action shall be based on it.
As for those who raised a real disagreement concerning this issue, they are the people who hold the sixth point in which they say: "Of which: -i.e., all the rulings of the Sunnah is an explanation to the Qur'an- looking at the details of the Hadith and the details of the Qur'an and whether the Sunnah contains extra meaning or not. However, the people who adopt this view should find all the meanings of the Sunnah in the Qur'an in terms of the language or stated in the Qur'an. (3)
This point which if it were done, it would have been nullifying for the consensus of scholars regarding that the Sunnah came with rulings that were not mentioned in the Qur'an but a Mujtahid (the one who practise analogical deduction) may drive new rulings out of it according to the language and their true and metaphoric meanings. However, this is not applicable to all the meanings mentioned in the Sunnah, therefore it is not true and away from the truth. (4)
After Ash-Shatiby himself laid down the principle or the method and went deep in the proofs, he concluded to admitting the invalidity of this view and did not agree with his companions to this idea which misses the purport and distract the goal. He said: The Qur'an does not meet that goal which is using the Arabic reference which the Arabs used and the first witness to that is: Salah, Hajj, Zakah, menstruation, post child-birth blood, fondling, Al Musaqah (giving planted or unplanted trees and land to be tended for a specified share of the fruit), blood monies, and other countless rulings.
So, the one who abides by that condition will use styles that were not approved by Arabs, the Pious Predecessors, and the well-versed scholars. Some people started to speak about that issue but could not explain it except by using the last claim we mentioned and the previous points in many cases and resorted to the Sunnah to explain some rulings that were not mentioned in the Qur'an, hence they had no proof in that." (5)
The Summary is: The Sunnah constitutes new rulings and it is like the Qur'an in making things lawful or unlawful and the reasons for preferring this opinion are:
1- The strong proofs which the people of this view hold.
2- The weakness of the second view's proofs because of what we have mentioned.
3- The weak points which the people of the second opinion laid as a basis for referring the rulings of the Sunnah to the Qur'an.
4- If the Sunnah was a kind of revelation, one of the fundamentals of legislation, and constitutes an evidence at all Muslims; and its rank is equal to the Glorious Qur'an and its relation with the Qur'an is correlated, it may be in harmony with it in some rulings and explaining some other rulings sometimes; so why does not it constitute new rulings?
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