Chapter Two: The Invalidity of Preferring Analogy and the Like over Hadith
Introduction
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Chapter Two: The Invalidity of Preferring Analogy and the Like over Hadith

To reject an authentic hadith because of analogy (qiyās) or any of the other rules mentioned earlier—such as discarding it on the grounds that the practice of the people of Medina conflicts with it—is a plain violation of the previously cited Qur’anic verses and prophetic reports that command us, whenever disagreement or dispute arises, to return to the Book and the Sunnah. It is beyond doubt among scholars that dismissing a hadith on the basis of such rules has never enjoyed universal agreement. In fact, the overwhelming majority of scholars oppose those principles and, instead, give priority to the sound hadith in obedience to the Book and the Sunnah. How could it be otherwise, when one is obliged to act upon a hadith even if he merely thinks consensus may run contrary to it, or if he knows of no one who has implemented it?

Imam al-Shāfiʿī says in al-Risālah (pp. 463/464): “A report must be accepted from the moment its authenticity is established, even if none of the leading scholars has yet acted upon it.”

Al-ʿAllāmah Ibn al-Qayyim states in Iʿlām al-Muwaqqiʿīn (1/32–33):
“Imam Aḥmad—may Allah have mercy on him—never preferred over an authentic hadith any practice, opinion, analogy, the statement of a Companion, or his own unawareness of dissent, which many people call ‘consensus’ and put ahead of the sound hadith. Aḥmad declared false the claim of such consensus and ruled that it could not be advanced over a proven hadith. Al-Shāfiʿī held the same position.”