- Disconnected specification (al-munfaṣṣil): this is the evidence that stands on its own and may come from the Qur’an, the Sunnah, scholarly consensus, or analogical reasoning.
The Absolute and the Qualified
An absolute expression (al-muṭlaq) is a wording that denotes the underlying reality without any limitation, as in His saying: “Carrion and blood have been forbidden to you” (Qur’an 5:3).
A qualified expression (al-muqayyad) conveys that same reality but with a restriction, as in His saying: “Say: I do not find, in what has been revealed to me … or blood that has been poured forth” (Qur’an 6:145).
Acting on an Absolute Text
When a term appears absolute in one scriptural passage and qualified in another, we proceed as follows:
• If they share the same ruling and the same operative cause—as with the word “blood” in the two verses just cited—the absolute is interpreted in light of the qualified, and the scholars of legal theory are unanimous on this point.
• If the ruling is the same but the cause differs—such as the expiation for ẓihār, “the freeing of a slave” (Qur’an 4:92), and the expiation for accidental killing, “the freeing of a believing slave” (Qur’an 4:92)—the matter is disputed. Some jurists construe the absolute by the qualified; others refuse to do so and maintain that each text carries its own ruling. They argue that both the cause and the expiation are matters of pure worship: perhaps the Lawgiver wished to impose greater stringency in the expiation for killing and greater leniency in the expiation for ẓihār. The same principle applies wherever the rulings vary while the cause remains one. Allah knows best.
The Ambiguous (al-mujmal) and the Clarified (al-mubayyan)
An ambiguous wording is one whose meaning cannot be understood from the phrase itself; it requires another source to determine its referent, explain its manner, or specify its amount.
• Example of needing clarification of the referent: the term qurʾ in His saying, “They shall wait concerning themselves for three qurūʾ” (Qur’an 2:228), for qurʾ is a homonym that may mean either menstruation or the period of purity.