to claim that it is a consensus necessarily known from the religion. Any other sort of consensus is beyond conception, let alone actual occurrence. For this reason Imām Aḥmad, may Allah have mercy on him, said: “Whoever claims consensus is a liar—how could he know? Perhaps the people have differed.” Narrated by his son ʿAbd Allah in al-Masāʾil, p. 390.

A detailed discussion of this weighty subject is not intended here. Whoever wishes to investigate it further should consult works on legal theory whose authors do not merely imitate their predecessors, such as Ibn Ḥazm’s Al-uṣūl wa-l-aḥkām (4/128–144) and al-Shawkānī’s Irshād al-fuḥūl, and similar books.

The impossibility of a sound consensus contradicting an authentic ḥadīth unless an equally authentic abrogator exists

Second: Even if consensus could, in principle, be established, asserting it in this particular issue is unfounded because it contradicts authentic Sunnah. That is likewise unimaginable, for it would mean the entire ummah agreeing upon error, which