The fundamental principle upon which Muslim scholars agree is that whatever they dispute must be referred back to Allah and the Messenger, as Allah Most High says:

“O you who believe, obey Allah and obey the Messenger and those in authority among you. If you disagree over anything, refer it to Allah and the Messenger, if you believe in Allah and the Last Day. That is better and best in outcome.”

No one may suppose that, after the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace), the Companions unanimously agreed upon something contrary to his revealed law. Such a claim is, rather, characteristic of heretics. Nor may anyone claim that what the Messenger prescribed was abrogated by anyone’s consensus after him, as some mistakenly suppose. Rather, everything upon which the Muslims unanimously agree must accord with what the Messenger brought, not contradict it. Whenever the Muslim community unanimously agrees that a text has been abrogated, it possesses the text that abrogates it. The community preserves the abrogating text just as it preserves the abrogated text; indeed, preserving the abrogating text is more important to it and a greater obligation upon it than preserving the abrogated text. It is impossible that ʿUmar and the Companions with him unanimously agreed upon something contrary to an explicit statement of the Messenger (may Allah bless him and grant him peace). An individual may, however, exercise independent scholarly judgment and be challenged by others. This occurs in many matters, and this is one of them, as has been explained at length elsewhere.

Thus, when ʿUmar (may Allah be pleased with him) held that an irrevocably divorced woman was entitled to accommodation and maintenance, believing that the Quran indicated this, most of the Companions disagreed with him. Some said that she was entitled only to accommodation, while others said that she was entitled to neither maintenance nor accommodation. Among the latter were Ibn ʿAbbās, Jābir and Fātimah bint Qays, who reported that the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) had said to her:

“You are entitled to neither maintenance nor accommodation.”

When they argued against her using ʿUmar’s evidence, namely, the words of Allah Most High, “Do not turn them out