and it constitutes proof binding on all who come after them. In the view of the majority, the extinction of that generation is not a pre-condition; consensus is concluded the instant the qualified scholars concur, and it is unlawful for them—or for anyone else thereafter—to depart from it. The textual evidences that establish the authority of consensus impose no requirement that the generation first pass away, and since the consensus is formed at the very moment they agree, what could possibly undo it?

If a number of mujtahids voice an opinion or perform an action, and that view or practice becomes widely known among the practitioners of ijtihād while none of them objects despite having the ability to do so, scholars have offered several assessments: some regard this as consensus; others deem it an authoritative proof though not a consensus; still others hold that it is neither consensus nor proof. Another position states that, should those scholars die without voicing any objection, the situation does amount to consensus, for their continued silence until death, despite their capacity to object, indicates their approval. This last view is the closest to the mark.