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Is This the Jawahiri Approach? As regarding the creative approach, although we find someone claiming that he follows the Jawahiri approach of deduction[1], yet we also find him upholding, in his way of deduction, a method which disagrees with the Jawahiri approach. I would like to provide the reader with some examples:
1. He considers the conclusions and the life-styles of rational people as providing injunctions for a Muslim even if they may touch upon an aspect of the Sunnah which is comprised of the statements, traditions and decisions of the Infallible one[2].
2. He considers what has come down to us from the fiqh legacy, with the exception of what is fundamentally true, a few issues, the product of the faqahs; so, it is all human ideology, not a divine one[3].
3. He considers the Qur’an as the one that expands upon or restricts hadath. As for hadath, it cannot restrict the Qur’anic concept[4].
4. Then he considers what is general and what is particular as contradictory of one another if they are separated by a lengthy span of time[5], and that they are to be appended for the same reason to what is absolute and restricted.
5. The he says, “Reason uncovers injunctions’ implications.”[6]
6. He also is inspired by the Qur’anic meaning just as the Imams used to be inspired![7]
7. He has no objection to act upon qiyas (relative comparison) and other perceptive methods in any source for which there is no legislative rule in the Book or in the hadath although the Imams have banned qiyas. The Imams’ rejection of it is based on its closure of the wide gate of knowledge. It expands to include even the smallest gap though it may be in a legislative rule in a very specific reference.
8. He considers as reliable the hadath which the scholars have agreed that it is weak, claiming there is no need to lie in its regard.
9. For the same reason, according to him, it is permissible to act upon the traditions narrated by non-Sha`as[8].
10. Language, according to him, develops; so, we have to understand the Qur’an and the hadath based on the new meaning which was not circulated before, nor was the expression led to it during the time when the text was revealed[9].
11. According to him, some legislative rules have to be reconsidered because they lead to paralysis and stagnation[10].
12. He considers the principle of agreed upon interests on which the Sunnis rely to be the same principle of public crowding in the School of Ahl al-Bayt (A.S.) although the difference between them is quite vast[11]. 13. Obligatory precaution regarding the prohibition of something, according to him, is considered an inclination towards permissibility. So he considers anyone who advocates obligatory precaution by not shaving the beard, for example, to be among those who incline to say that it is alright to shave it, although the meaning of “precaution” is that the faqah does not have an evidence for prohibition. It is as though the faqah says, “I cannot issue a verdict in this regard; so, go to someone else, or take precaution, so that you may avoid being penalized.” [1]Refer to p. 244, issues 3 and 4 of Al-Murshid, citing a lecture delivered at the Institute of Islamic Shar_`a in Bi’r Hasan on January 18, 1995. [2]Ibid. [3]Refer to p. 480 of Hiw_r_t f_l Fikr wal Siy_sa wal Ijtim_`. [4]__, Al-Murshid, Nos. 3 & 4, pp. 267, 247. [5]Ibid. [6]Ibid., p. 245. [7]__, Al-Ins_n wal Hay_t, p. 310. [8]Kit_b al-Nik_h, Vol. 1, p. 58. [9]Refer to pp. 19-20 of Qir_’a Jad_da li Fiqh al-Mar’a. [10]Ta’ammul_t f_ _f_q al-Im_m al-K_zim (_) p. 47. [11]Al-Ins_n wal Hay_t, p. 169. |