What is meant
In this conception, not all prohibitions are of the same degree of definitiveness; rather, some acts may be regulated by prohibition and legislative ijtihad according to circumstance Examples include backbiting and spying in some of their forms, consuming people’s wealth unlawfully in some of its applications, and wine and gambling in terms of their conditions of use
The atom’s structure in the atlas
- Type of argument: legislative
- Movement of the argument: some prohibitions are regulated through ijtihad rather than definitive prohibition.
- Key terms: prohibition, ijtihad, backbiting, spying.
- Degree of centrality: primary.
It tempers the absoluteness of prohibition by referring some prohibitions to situational ijtihad, allowing a flexible reading that distinguishes between definitive prohibition and changing regulation.
Links that help with reading
- Muhammad Shahrur Islam and Faith
- Legislation, Limits, and Prohibition
- Legislation in Shahrur distinguishes between divine prohibition and human ijtihad
Grounding
- Supporting text: “Some acts are not prohibited with definitive prohibition, but are regulated by prohibition and ijtihad, such as backbiting and spying in some of their forms, consuming wealth unlawfully in some of its applications, and wine and gambling in terms of the conditions of use”.
Place of grounding in the book
- Book: Islam and Faith.
- Location: in the first section of the book within the enumeration of rulings and prohibitions.
- Type of grounding: close witness.
- Marker that helps verification: the prohibition of intoxication, which is the avoidance of the filth of wine
- Reading note: this location is suitable because it presents the prohibitions in a detailed rather than singular context, and shows that some cases require ijtihad in understanding and application.
Degree of documentation
- Level: directly documented
- Meaning of the level: the atom relies on an explicit witness close to the wording of the claim.
- Reading limits: the wording above is an analytical summary, and should not be treated as a verbatim quotation unless the witness is quoted textually.
Its function in the book
Its function here is methodological; it governs the method of reading or inference that the book follows.
Related to
Editorial note
A distinction needs to be made between the applied example and the general rule within the system.