Ijma - The third source of Law - is the consensus either of the community or of the doctors of religion. The conceptual difference between "Sunnah" and Ijma lies in the fact that while Sunnah is restricted mainly to the teachings of the Prophet (peace be upon him) and is extended to the companions in as much they are the source for its transmissions, the Ijma which is a principle of new legal content that emerges as a result of exercising reason and logic in the face of a rapidly with the Companions and extended to subsequent generations.
We find the Justifications of Ijma as a dynamic source of law both in the Holy Qur'an and the Sunnah. The Qur'an say: "It is aim that we have you a nation of the right mean" (Surah 11.143). The Prophet (peace be upon him) is also reported to have said: "My people shall never agree on an error". The fact is that Ijma is intended "not only for discovering the right at present and in the future, but also for establishing the past": it was Ijma that determined what the Sunnah of the Prophet had been and indeed what the right interpretation of the Sunnah were authenticated through the Ijma. Therefore, it appears that Ijma is the powerful factor in solving the complex belief and practice of the Muslims. At a given period of time it has functional validity and power. If its verdict is final, it is only a relatives sense, because Ijma has the potentialities of assimilations, modification and rejection according to the requirements of modern life.
There are points which have been universally accepted and agreed upon by the entire community. This sort of Ijma which is obligatory in nature, is known as the Ijma of the community. On the other hand, these are certain rules which are agreed upon by the learned of a particular region, and not by the entire community. This is known as the Ijma of the learned, which may be used as a divergent opinions which arose as a result of the individual legal activities of Jurists.
For having Ijma, we need not press for authoritative justifications, if we did so, there would no longer be any use for the Ijma as an independent source of law. But the authority or evidence for the opinions which make up an Ijma may be a probable evidence such as Qiyas; or it may be an "individual" report or it may be a positives evidence, such as a verse of the Qur'an or Sunnah. It appears that Ijma which sets aside the stray opinion circulating in each locally as dynamic force of a living community. A Muslim community which wants to keep pace with the modern world must give due importance to Ijma as a derive a set of principles or a code of conduct exercising Ijtihad, the last but not the least basis of Faith.
We find the Justifications of Ijma as a dynamic source of law both in the Holy Qur'an and the Sunnah. The Qur'an say: "It is aim that we have you a nation of the right mean" (Surah 11.143). The Prophet (peace be upon him) is also reported to have said: "My people shall never agree on an error". The fact is that Ijma is intended "not only for discovering the right at present and in the future, but also for establishing the past": it was Ijma that determined what the Sunnah of the Prophet had been and indeed what the right interpretation of the Sunnah were authenticated through the Ijma. Therefore, it appears that Ijma is the powerful factor in solving the complex belief and practice of the Muslims. At a given period of time it has functional validity and power. If its verdict is final, it is only a relatives sense, because Ijma has the potentialities of assimilations, modification and rejection according to the requirements of modern life.
There are points which have been universally accepted and agreed upon by the entire community. This sort of Ijma which is obligatory in nature, is known as the Ijma of the community. On the other hand, these are certain rules which are agreed upon by the learned of a particular region, and not by the entire community. This is known as the Ijma of the learned, which may be used as a divergent opinions which arose as a result of the individual legal activities of Jurists.
For having Ijma, we need not press for authoritative justifications, if we did so, there would no longer be any use for the Ijma as an independent source of law. But the authority or evidence for the opinions which make up an Ijma may be a probable evidence such as Qiyas; or it may be an "individual" report or it may be a positives evidence, such as a verse of the Qur'an or Sunnah. It appears that Ijma which sets aside the stray opinion circulating in each locally as dynamic force of a living community. A Muslim community which wants to keep pace with the modern world must give due importance to Ijma as a derive a set of principles or a code of conduct exercising Ijtihad, the last but not the least basis of Faith.
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