(Part 26)
The Fourth Topic
The Second Speech: Islamic Sects
The Continuation
The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) taught his companions to use reason when deriving religious rulings in a way that aligns with the objectives of Shariah and to avoid superficial interpretations. A famous example from his time illustrates this point: Narrated by ‘Adi ibn Hatim: When the verse was revealed, “And eat and drink until the white thread becomes distinct to you from the black thread”
«وَكُلُوا وَاشْرَبُوا حَتَّى يَتَبَيَّنَ لَكُمُ الْخَيْطُ الْأَبْيَضُ مِنَ الْخَيْطِ الْأَسْوَدِ» (البقره، 187).
[Surah al-Baqarah: 187], he said: “I took two strings, one black and one white, and placed them under my pillow. Then I began to observe them, but I could not distinguish between the black and the white string. The next morning, I went to the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) and informed him of what I had done. He said:
«قال عمدت الی عقالین احدهما اسود والاخر ابیض فجعلتهما تحت وسادی قال ثم جعلت انظر الیهما فلاتبین لی الاسود من الابیض و لا الابیض من الاسود فلما اصبحت غدوت علی رسول الله صلی الله علیه وسلم فاخبرته بالذی صنعت فقال انما ذالک بیاض النهار من سواد اللیل» ( بن حنبل 1420، 32/113).
‘That refers to the whiteness of the day and the darkness of the night.’” (Ahmad ibn Hanbal, 32/113). This is an example of the Companions’ understanding and interpretation of a Quranic verse.
The Second Speech: Differences in Access to the Sunnah
Another cause of disagreement among jurists is the varying levels of access to the Sunnah. One of the greatest reasons for juristic differences is that some scholars had more knowledge and access to the Quran and Sunnah than others. Those with greater access were closer to the truth in their rulings. While the Quran is limited in verses, it is nearly impossible to quantify all the sayings and actions of the Prophet (peace be upon him), as not all companions were present when he spoke or acted. After the Prophet’s passing, the Sunnah was preserved among all the companions, but none of them had complete knowledge of it. As the companions dispersed to different cities, they shared the knowledge they had learned with the people of those regions. Scholars in each region issued legal verdicts based on the Sunnah that had reached them, and when no direct text was available, they resorted to ijtihad, which sometimes aligned with truth and sometimes did not. In case of errors, they made efforts to correct them. Later generations of scholars compiled the Prophet’s sayings into books. Despite this, it was still impossible for any single jurist to fully encompass the entire Sunnah due to the vast number of hadith collections. Therefore, legal judgments based on hadith varied according to the understanding, authenticity, and interpretation of these texts, which caused extensive differences from the time of the Companions onward. (Kohi & Alimi, 2019)
Imitation in The Present Age
