Origins on giving a fatwā (Juristic Rulings)
The Prophet ﷺ left general rules and principles along with rulings on certain cases and matters scattered in the Qurʾān and Sunnah, enough for those that came after to codify this into a legal structure. With the spread of Islam in distant lands it necessitated the codification of law when the Muslims encountered matters and customs not faced before.
The ṣaḥābah RA were the first of the ummah to issue fatāwa (pl. of fatwā meaning juristic ruling) on matters not encountered in the blessed life of the Prophet ﷺ. Like this, fiqh as a subject matter grew in the following years until it became the system of law we know of today.
The issuing of fatwā was something the Prophet ﷺ encouraged the ṣaḥābah RA during his ﷺ’s lifetime. In a ḥadīth of the Prophet ﷺ when he intended to send out Muʿādh ibn Jabal RA to Yemen, the Prophet ﷺ asked Muʿādh, “How will you give rulings when you are faced with a matter?”, Muʿādh RA replied “I will give the ruling in accordance to what is found in the Qurʾān”, the Prophet ﷺ asked “What if you don’t find the ruling in the Qurʾān?”, “then I will give the ruling following the Sunnah of the Prophet ﷺ” Muʿādh replied. The Prophet ﷺ then asked “What if you don’t find the ruling in the Qurʾān or Sunnah”, Muʿādh replied “I will try my best in giving my own opinion and I won’t neglect in doing so”, the Prophet ﷺ’s reply to this was “Praise be to Allāh who has inspired the messenger of the messenger of Allāh with what pleases the messenger ﷺ of Allāh.”1
The Ṣaḥābah’s RA methodology in giving fatwā
Similarly, this is how the ṣaḥābah RA acted in matters that they faced after the demise of the Prophet ﷺ . The ṣaḥābah RA, after the demise of the Prophet ﷺ, would look to see if the Muslims had a consensus on a matter or if any of the more senior companions RA like ʾAbū Bakr RA or ʿUmar RA had passed a judgement before carrying out their own independent reasoning in accordance with the ʾāyah:
﴾فَسْـَٔلُوٓا۟ أَهْلَ ٱلذِّكْرِ إِن كُنتُمْ لَا تَعْلَمُونَ﴿
“Ask the people of knowledge if you do not know”
[Sūrah Al-Naḥl:43]
The number of mujtahadīn (qualified independent decision makers) from the ṣaḥābah RA numbered at around 20 from whom 7 are known to have issued many fatāwā. These were: ʿUmar Ibn Al Khaṭṭāb RA, ʿAlī RA, ʿAbdullah Ibn Masʿūd RA, ʿĀʾishah RA, Zayd Ibn Thabit RA, ʿAbdullah Ibn ʿAbbās RA, and ʿAbdullah Ibn ʿUmar RA. This is not to say that there weren’t more than 20 ṣaḥābah who gave fatāwā during their lifetimes, there were many others, but they weren’t as well known for giving fatāwā like ʾAbū Bakr RA and ʾAbū Hurayrah RA, and their fatāwā weren’t as many as those mentioned above. Many gave a fatwā even on only one or two issues.
Caution Related to Issuing Fatwā
The ṣaḥābah RA understood that issuing a fatwā was a very weighty task. It is mentioned in a narration “the hastiest to give fatwā [i.e. without any thought or caution] will be the first to enter hell”2.
The ṣaḥābī Barāʾ Ibn ʿĀzib RA said, “I met 300 ṣaḥābah RA that participated in the Battle of Badr, all of whom wished that their companion would answer a fatwā on their behalf [when asked a question]”3. Many other reports inform us of the caution even the most knowledgeable scholars would have when passing judgment on a matter.
Codification of Fiqh
When the ṣaḥābah RA moved to different parts of the world they would pass judgments on matters according to what they remembered from what they saw or heard from the Prophet ﷺ. When something arose that wasn’t found in the sunnah they would consult others for answers. If they didn’t find an answer they would carry out their own independent reasoning to come to a conclusion, and this is how issues were solved and different answers on one issue came about.
The ṣaḥābah RA established themselves in different parts of the Muslim world, with ʿAbdullāh Ibn Masʿūd RA in Iraq, Zayd Ibn Thābit RA and ʿAbdullāh Ibn ʿUmar in Madinah, and ʿAbdullāh Ibn ʿAbbās RA in Makkah. Their students (the tābiʿīn RH) – in accordance with the understanding of their teachers and following their method of independent reasoning – set up different schools of thought in different parts of the Muslim world. With the likes of ʾIbrāhīm Al-Nakhaʿī RH in Kufa, Saʿīd Ibn Al-Musayyib RH in Madinah, and ʿAṭāʾ Ibn ʾAbī Rabāh in Makkah.
From amongst the tabiʿīn RH were those who busied themselves in narrating ʾaḥādīth from the Prophet ﷺ and reports from the companions RA without deriving rulings from the narrations. While others focused on extrapolating rulings from the narrations. Some of those i.e. the latter wrote books on fiqh which included aḥādīth from the Prophet ﷺ and reports from the companions RA. This was the beginning of the codification of fiqh.
[Maulana] Abdullah Nakhuda
9th of Shaʿbān 1445/19th of February 2024
Sources:
أصول الإفتاء وآدابه للمفتي محمد تقي العثماني .1
المدخل الفقهي العام للشيخ مصطفى محمد الزرقا .2
المدخل المفصل الى الفقه الحنفي للدكتور صلاح محمد أبو الحاج .3
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