Jimāʿ al-ʿIlm - Al-Shafi'i - (31)

analogy (qiyās). So I asked him, “Do you mean qiyās—the firmly established form of knowledge about whose validity the scholars are unanimously agreed?”

272 – He replied, “That is exactly what I said.”

273 – I continued, “It is quite possible that they spoke about matters for which you yourself found no text in the Quran or the Sunnah, even though those matters were never recorded. Perhaps they offered personal judgment (raʾy) rather than analogy.”

274 – He said, “Even if such a possibility exists, I do not think they would have known something and then failed to record it, nor do I believe that they spoke except on the basis of qiyās.”

275 – I asked, “Is that because you found their statements proving that analogy was binding upon them, or is it merely an assumption on your part of what you think ought to have bound them?”

276 – I added, “Might it be that analogy does not occupy with them the same rank that it occupies with you?”

277 – He replied, “I see the matter only as I have described to you.”

278 – I said, “What you have narrated from them—that they spoke by means of analogy—is pure conjecture, and you have turned conjecture into proof!”

279 – He retorted, “Then from where did you yourself adopt qiyās, and why do you forbid any ruling except through it?”

280 – I answered, “From a source other than the one from which you derived it, and I have explained that elsewhere.”

281 – I went on, “Tell me: those who reported to you that they spoke on matters for which you could find no textual evidence—so that you assumed they had spoken by analogy—and to whom you said, ‘When I find their practices converging on a point, that is proof of their consensus’—did those transmitters also tell you that they were speaking on the basis of a solitary report?”

282 – Take Saʿīd ibn al-Musayyab: he narrated from Abu Hurayrah a hadith traced back to the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, and he acted upon it. He likewise narrated from Abu Saʿīd al-Khudrī regarding currency exchange and acted upon that, yet members of the ummah both before and after him disagreed with him on those very issues.

القياس فقلت: القياس العلم الثابت الذي أجمع عليه أهل العلم أنه حق؟. ٢٧٢ - قال: هكذا قلت. ٢٧٣ - وقلت: له قد يمكن أن يكونوا قال: وا ما لم تجده أنت في كتاب ولا سنة وإن لم يذكروه وما يرون لم يذكروه وقال: وا الرأي دون القياس. ٢٧٤ - قال: إن هذا وإن أمكن عليهم فلا أظن بهم أنهم علموا شيئا فتركوا ذكره ولا انهم قال: وا إلا من جهة القياس. ٢٧٥ - فقلت: له لأنك وجدت أقاويلهم تدل على أنهم ذهبوا إلى أن القياس لازم لهم أو إنما هذا شيء ظننته لأنه الذي يجب عليهم؟. ٢٧٦ - قلت: له فلعل القياس لا يحل عندهم محله عندك؟. ٢٧٧ - قال: ما أرى إلا ما وصفت لك. ٢٧٨ - فقلت: له هذا الذي رويته عنهم من انهم قال: وا من جهة القياس توهم ثم جعلت التوهم حجة!. ٢٧٩ - قال: فمن أين أخذت القياس أنت ومنعت أن لا يقال: إلا به؟. ٢٨٠ - قلت: من غير الطريق التي أخذته منها وقد كتبته في غير هذا الموضع. ٢٨١ - قلت: أرأيت الذين نقلوا لك عنهم انهم قال: وا فيما لم تجد أنت فيه خبرا فتوهمت انهم قال: وه قياسا وقلت: إذا وجدت أفعالهم مجتمعة على شيء فهو دليل على إجماعهم أنقلوا إليك عنهم انهم قال: وا من جهة الخبر المنفرد؟. ٢٨٢ فروى ابن المسيب عن أبي هريرة عن النبي ﷺ شيئا وأخذ به وعن أبي سعيد الخدري في الصرف شيئا وأخذ به وله فيه مخالفون من الأمة.