and punishment in this context is the same as that arising from a large measure of either. For the scholar exercising independent judgment incurs neither a small nor a large measure of these; rather, he receives their opposite: recompense and reward.

Second:

Whether the ruling on an act is unanimously agreed upon or disputed is extrinsic to the act and its attributes. These are merely relative matters arising from what some scholars happen not to know. If a general expression is intended to have a restricted meaning, evidence must be provided to establish that restriction. According to those who do not permit clarification to be delayed, this evidence must accompany the statement; according to the majority, its presentation may be delayed until it is needed.

There is no doubt that those addressed by these statements during the lifetime of the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, needed to know the rulings they conveyed. Thus, if the general wording cursing one who consumes usury, a man who contracts a marriage intended to make a woman lawful again for her former husband, and others like them were intended to cover only cases unanimously deemed forbidden—and that could not be known until after the Prophet’s death, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and after the Muslim community had expressed its views on every instance covered by that general wording—then he would have delayed clarifying his words until the entire community had expressed its views on every such instance. This is impermissible.

(Third:

These words were addressed to the Muslim community so that they might recognize what is forbidden and avoid it, rely on them as the basis for their consensus, and cite them as evidence in their disputes. If their intended scope were limited to cases on which they unanimously agreed, knowing what was intended would depend on consensus. It would then be invalid to cite these words as evidence before consensus was reached, so they could not serve as its basis. For the evidence on which consensus rests must precede it and therefore cannot come after