Understanding Usul Al-Fiqh by Abu Tariq Hilal - Abu Ismael al-Beirawi

As for the Mu‟amalaat and „Uqubat it is possible that the texts regarding them may contain „Illah‟s because they generally entail tangible results. For example, Allah ordered the Messenger (saw) to distribute the spoils of war amongst the orphans and the poor. This is a tangible result sought by the Hukm which is open to having an „Illah. Even though the Hukm is fulfilled for Allah‟s sake the result is still tangible which means that there may be a reason why the poor should receive the booty. The reason here of course is stated in the text:

“So that the booty does not become a commodity only between the rich among you.” (TMQ Al-Hashr: 7)

Of course many other texts relating to these areas do not include an „Illah at all such as:

“Allah has permitted trade and has forbidden Riba (interest).” (Al-Baqara: 275)

The rules and evidences regarding the Muslim woman having to wear Khimar (headscarf) and Jilbab, the allowance for man to marry up to four wives at one time, the prohibition of women being rulers and many other rules have come without „Illah, therefore these rules should not be reasoned at all and should be taken as they are.

There are four types of „Illah:

 Explicit (Saraahatan)

 Implicit (Dalaalatan)

 Derived (Istinbaatan)

 Those derived through analogy (Qiyasan).

Saraahatan refers to an explicit (Sareeh) indication of the text. What we mean by explicit indication is that the reasoning (Ta‟leel) is in the Mantuq (pronounced meaning) of the text as opposed to the Mafhum (inferred meaning) of the text. This we can see in the use of certain expressions and prepositions that denote reasoning. For example the expression „Min ajl‟ in Arabic which means „because of‟ or „in order to‟, it is an explicit indication of causality and not something that is inferred or derived from the text.

For instance the Messenger (saw) said:

“Indeed, permission has been made obligatory because of (min ajl) sight.”21

Here, the reasoning is explicitly pronounced in the text by saying „because of‟. Thus, the reason for legislating the rule of asking permission before one enters another persons house is because (Min ajl) one might see that which is not lawful to see, such as a non-mahram woman whose „Awrah (parts which must be covered) are not completely covered because she is in her private space. The same goes for the following saying of Muhammad (saw):

“If there are three of you, two should not whisper to each other in front of the third because (Min ajl) that will upset him.”22

So the reason („Illah) for not whispering between two people while a third is present is because that might cause the third to become upset.

An implicit (Dalaalatan) „Illah is when the text mentions an attribute which rationally has a link to the Hukm it has mentioned.

This linkage is not uttered but understood from the text. For example, the Messenger (saw) said:

“On the grazing sheep zakah is payable.” The attribute which brings the Hukm into existence is grazing. Naturally one might ask, what is it about grazing that obliges Zakah? If we think about the meaning of grazing we understand that it means to let the animals graze from the open pastures which are public property. Since this is taking from the public resources then one should pay it back by paying Zakat i.e. give back to the public. Hence the one who feeds his livestock in a pen, he has not used the public resources and therefore Zakah is not payable. This causality (Ta‟leel) between the attribute and the Hukm is not explicitly stated and hence it is not from the category of sareeh. But since it is understood from the meaning of the word grazing and its linkage to the Hukm then we can say this is an „Illah extracted form the indication of the text i.e. this „Illah is notified (Tanbeeh) by the implied meaning (Mafhum) and not from the uttered expression (Mantuq).

Let us look at another example, the Prophet (saw) said:

“The saliva of the cat is not impure (najas) because it is constantly around you (i.e. domesticated).”23

Here the Hukm of impurity or purity of the cat‟s saliva is linked to whether it is domesticated or not. So if the cat is domesticated then the saliva is pure and if not the saliva is impure. Here the text did not say explicitly that the reason for cat‟s saliva being pure is because it is domesticated. Rather we understand this from the indication (dalaalah) of the word „domesticated‟ and its linkage to the presence or absence of the Hukm i.e. when the cat is around the house it is not going to eat Najas (impurities) and hence its saliva is pure. However, if it is wild then it is likely to eat whatever it finds outside and so its saliva will not be pure. This „Illah is not stated but understood or notified from the meaning of domestication and hence the „Illah is extracted from the indication (Dalalaah) of the attribute. Thus, we call this „Illah an implicit „Illah.

The derived (Istinbaatan) „Illah is not taken from any explicit prepositions or particles and nor is it taken from the indication (Dalaalah) of the uttered expression. Rather it is inferred from the structure or a scrutiny of one or more texts.

An example of this is the „Illah prohibiting the private ownership of public resources. This has been derived by looking at various Ahadith.

Ibn Abbas narrated that the Prophet (saw) said, “People are partners (associates) in three things: in water, pastures and fire” (Abu Dawud)

Anas narrated from Ibn Abbas adding:

"and its price is haram (forbidden)." It is narrated from Abu Hurairah (ra) that the Prophet (saw) said:

"Three things are not prevented from (the people); the water, the pastures and the fire." (Ibn Majah)

This is an evidence that people are partners (associates) in water, pastures and fire, and that the individual is prohibited from possessing them. But it is noticed that the Ahadith mentioned them as three, and they are Jamid (rigid) nouns, and there was no mentioning of „Illah (reason) in them. The Ahadith did not include „Illah (reason) and this could imply that these three things are the only ones which represent public property, with no consideration given to their depiction for the community‟s need for them.

However, if one scrutinised the issue he would find that the Prophet (saw) allowed the possession of water in At-Taif and Khaybar by individuals, and they actually possessed it for the purpose of irrigating their plants and farms. Had the sharing (association) of water been just because it is water and not because of the consideration of the community‟s need for it, then he would not have allowed individuals to possess it.

So from the saying of the Prophet (saw):

"People are partners (associates) in three things: in water, pastures and fire” (Abu Dawud)

In addition to his permission of individuals to possess small quantities of water, it can be deduced that the „Illah (reason) of association in the water, pastures and fire, is their being of the community utilities that are indispensable to the public.

Therefore, anything that qualifies as being of the community utilities is considered a public property, whether or not it is water, pasture or fire.

Hence the „Illah here is a derived „Illah because it is inferred through the scrutiny of texts and not through an explicit meaning or an implied meaning of expressions.

The fourth type of „Illah is Qiyasan (extraction through analogy), this is when a new „Illah is extracted from an existing implicit „Illah by way of analogy to the effective link that both share. To help us grasp this let us look at the following road safety instruction: „Do not drive when tired‟.

The effective link between tiredness and driving is that driving when tired may cause us to have an accident. Hence, the attribute of tiredness is obviously the „Illah for the instruction not to drive. However, because there is an effective link between the original attribute and the hukm then it is possible to make analogy between the existing attribute and any new attribute which shares the same effective link. Hence driving when stressed is analogous to tiredness because it shares the same effective link which is that it may cause an accident and hence this would be an example of a new „Illah extracted though Qiyas. So driving when stressed would also violate the instruction jut like tiredness.

Now let us apply the same principle to the following hadith:

“The judge should not pass judgment in a state of anger”24

Here the implicit „Illah for not passing judgment is anger because anger will effect the judgment. So the effective link between the attribute of anger and the rule is disruption to objective thinking. Due to the existence of an effective link we can make analogy between anger and other new attributes which share the same effective link and extract a new „Illah though Qiyas. For example hunger is analogous to anger because it shares the same effective link, which is that it will effect objectivity. Hence hunger is a new „Illah derived through analogy. The Sahabah extended the ruling of this Hadith to anything which resembles anger in its effect such as extreme hunger and depression.25