The Role Of Qiyas As a Secondary Source Of Shariah

Introduction

We have been assigned to discuss about the role of Qiyas as a secondary source of Shariah. This is important to be discussed because the issue of whether the usage of Qiyas to be accepted as source of Shariah or otherwise is still debatable in these present days. According to the majority of scholars, Quran and Sunnah are the primary sources of Shariah, while Ijma and Qiyas, they consider it as secondary sources of Syariah. However, there were also some views considering all these four sources, the Holy Quran, Sunnah, Ijma’ and Qiyas as primary sources of Shariah.

The scholars agreed that Qiyas to be used as a rational tool for deducing the rule of fiqh.

The literal meaning of Qiyas is measuring, or ascertaining the length, weight or quality of something. It is the comparison that suggests similarity or equality between two things. While in its technical meaning, it is defined as the extension of more widen understanding, of a Syariah value from the asl (original case) to a current or a new case because the latter has the same effective cause as the former.

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According to Laldin (2006), the text from the Quran or Sunnah ruled the original case and the qiyas aims to extend or to broaden the understanding of the same ruling to the new case based on the same illah. Qiyas does not create a new rule, regulation or even a law. Indeed, it discovers and develops the existing law which was practiced since thousands of years ago.

In order to apply the usage of Qiyas, there are four essentials elements or requirements must be fulfilled. They are as follows:

1. Al-Asl or the original case, it is a case which has been mentioned in the texts of Quran or Sunnah with its ruling;
2. Al-Far or the new case, where the ruling of that new case is unknown;
3. Al-Illah or the effectiveness cause, in which the underlying cause has led to the ruling;
4. Al-Hukm or the rule, the ruling has been mentioned in the texts governing the original case which is to be extended to the new case.

In order to ensure the accuracy and propriety in the usage of Qiyas, the scholars have laid down the conditions for each of the four important elements of the analogy. All these conditions will be elaborate further in the section of discussion of results in this paper.

There are some examples to demonstrate all the four important elements to give a proper understanding of the application of Qiyas. Such as in a case of a son who killed his own father, he will not inherit his father’s wealth. This is supported by the hadith, the Prophet SAW said that, “The killer shall not inherit from the victim” (the ruling found in the original case). By analogy, this ruling is extended to bequests or wasiyyah matter (new case). This would implicate that the murderer cannot benefit from the will of his victim. The rationale is to prevent people from committing murder in order to get enriched.

Another example, in a case of a woman who already engaged to a man, another man cannot make an offer of betrothal to that woman. As in the hadith of the Prophet stated that it is forbidden for a man to make an offer of betrothal to a woman who is already engaged to another man unless the latter discontinues the relationship or has totally abandoned his offer (original case). The illah is to cause conflict and hostility among people. By analogy, the same rule is extended to all other transactions (new case) in which the same illah is found to be operative.

However, the debate among the scholars whether to put Qiyas as one of the sources of Shariah is open for discussion as some say that the ruling of Qiyas is concluded by human which is not the same as Quran and Sunnah where the Quran is the word of Allah SWT revealed through Angel Jibril to Prophet Muhammad SAW and Sunnah is the established practice of the Prophet Muhammad SAW whether by his acts or sayings.

In this assignment, it consists four sections namely literature review, methodology, discussion of results and conclusion. It aims to help researchers to identify the organizational structure more orderly and systematic. Under literature review, we will highlight some studies of the role of Qiyas as secondary sources of Syariah and some issues that arise in Qiyas. In the methodology section, it deals with the methodology based on library research to collect the data. We will also inform our difficulties in doing the research. In discussion of results section, we will discuss the validity of Qiyas as a source of Islamic Law. Last but not least, the conclusion section being the last of all the sections, we will summarize all that we have analyzed in this paper, our findings and recommendations.

Literature review

Qiyas is one of the four sources of law to establish a new ruling from the same Illah. This method is done by comparing the ever-occurring law described in the Quran and the Sunnah with the new law. Therefore, this task will explain the role of Qiyas method in Islamic law. In the article belong to Desa and Alias (2015) titled Qiyas and its impact on Islamic law, it focusing on explaining of Qiyas and its impact as a source of Islamic law in detail. Therefore from the study of this article, it can help to understand Qiyas in more detail. At the same time, it can also help to prove the role of Qiyas as the source of the secondary Islamic law.

Besides, Abbah (2013) wrote about Qiyas as a methodology in formulation of rules. The study covered explanation of Qiyas, procedure for Qiyas and arguments on the validity of Qiyas in detail. Therefore from the study of this article, the study found that there is an agreement of the Qiyas as a reason that can be used to conclude any particular legal decision because there are only a few examples and evidence about strong writing (nass) in the Al-Quran and Sunnah can be met effectively also majority of the scholars agreed that Qiyas is source of Islamic law.

Fuad (2016) wrote that Qiyas as one of the method to deduce a ruling where the texts of Al-Quran and Sunnah does not has clear judgment regarding the current that need to seek for the solutions. The Study covered the definition and validity of Qiyas including the conditions of each elements. Mujtahid can deduce ruling base on cases with clear judgment because of the same illah.

Methodology

The initial purpose of this assignment is to give details on the information about Qiyas and the problem arise whether to accept Qiyas as secondary source of Shariah or otherwise, together with a valid reason and arguments will be provided in this paper. We will talk about each Madhab’s view about Qiyas and its position on why Qiyas is a part of source of Shariah with supporting evidence from the Majority of scholars and we will talk about Ibn Hazm’s views as well as critics of Qiyas to be applied in this present day. Under Ibn Hazm’s view, we will include his critics against the methodology used as well as state few examples that he did not agree with the rulings based on. The information that we will be using is based on few Journals and few Books that we have found from the library as well as international journals online that can help to understand the issues that are related to the title of the assignment. However, there are some constrictions when doing the research as some of the Books are in Arabic, Indonesian and Old Malay Language which cause us some difficulties in translating it back to English. Hence, we try to translate as clearly as possible to English and some we use other people’s journals that interpreted those findings.

Discussion of results

According to Imam Hanafi, the Qiyas (analogy) will be used to deduce a decision if the Quran, Sunnah or Ijma does not give the clear indication of solution to the current issue. However, Hanafi was not considered Qiyas as the final source to deduce a decision. He will consider Istihsanif the solution could not be found by the four sources (Quran, Sunnah, Ijma and the usage of Qiyas).The way he invites, he himself often says: 'Just take the book of God when he finds it, then what is not found in it, take the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah and its determination, people's beliefs. If it is not in the Book of Allah and the Prophet's Sunnah, then take the words of his companions. To take whatever they want and to leave the desired name, then do not get their words out to someone's words other than them. After Ibrahim, Sya'bi, al-hasan, ibn sirin and said Said ibn al-musayyab, he was able to produce some great names of scholars and would justify as they had been judged.