is weaker than the implication of a qualifying attribute. This is the position of al-Shāfiʿī, Ahmad—according to the well-known report from him—and others.

Those who reject this approach argue that his statement, “Water is purifying,” is general, while his statement, “When water reaches two qullahs, it does not become impure,” concerns a particular instance covered by that general wording and accords with its ruling. The general wording’s indication should therefore not be set aside on this account.

The same applies to his statement in the document on zakat issued by Abū Bakr:

“For camels, one sheep is due for every five,”

and the remainder of that passage, alongside his statement in another hadith:

“For grazing camels, a two-year-old she-camel is due for every forty, and a three-year-old she-camel for every fifty.”

There are many similar examples. In some, the scholars have agreed that the implication takes precedence, such as his statement:

“The earth has been made for me a place of prayer and a means of purification,”

alongside his statement:

“Every part of the earth that is pure has been made for me a place of prayer and a means of purification.”

There is no disagreement that impure earth is not a means of purification.

In other cases, they have differed, as with his statement in this hadith:

“And its soil has been made for me a means of purification.”

Al-Shāfiʿī, Ahmad, and others held that the implication of this hadith restricts the general scope of his statement:

“Every part of the earth that is pure has been made for me a means of purification.”

In still other cases, they have agreed that the general wording takes precedence, such as His statement:

“Do not approach the orphan’s property except in the way that is best,”

alongside His statement:

“Do not consume it wastefully and in haste lest they grow up.”

Consuming it is forbidden whether or not one intends to use it up before the orphan comes of age.

Scholars have differed over these two kinds of indication when they conflict. Thus, the proponents of juristic reasoning, the literalists, many speculative theologians, and a group of Mālikī and Shāfiʿī scholars