Is ijma only Ijma of Sahabah

[AbuTaymiyah]

salam aleykum

In Muzilul Ghawashi, urdu Sharh of Usul Shahsee, by Maulana Hakeem NajmuGhani Khan Sahib Rampuri Hanafee

P 351 : “ Imam Ahmad said that Ijma will only happen with Ittifaq of Sahabah, and some Hanafee also have this opinion, and some scholars even said that only with ittifaq of Abu Bakr and Umar, but this saying is not saheeh according to majority”

Also in Irshad al Fuhul of Qadhee Shawkanee : “ And went to make Ijma khas with Sahabah Dawud Thahiri, and this is the thahir saying of ibn Hibban in his Saheeh, and also mashoor from Imam Ahmad and he said in one of his narration from Abu Dawood : “ Ijma is to follow what came on the Prophet saw and from Sahabah and in Tabiin he has choice”

Ibn Wahb said : “ Dawud and our companions went to say that Ijma is only Ijma of Sahabah and one should not oppose this saying, because ijma only comes from taeqeef ( Nusus) and Sahabah were witness of tawqeef. And if one was to say Ijma after them, we say this is not permissible because of two reasons : The Prophet saw gave information about it, with his saying that there would always be a Taifah from my Ummah on truth, and second and limits of earth are many, and it is not possible to gather all their saying, and one who claims that then his lie is not hidden to any body”

The Muhaqiq on Irshad Fuhul, Muhammad Subhi ibn Hassan Hallaq attributed the two reasons as saying of Zarkashi in Bahr Al Muheet vol 4 p 473

Imam Shawkanee also mentioned the saying of Imam Ahmad : “ The one who makes da’wah of Ijma’, he is a liar”

Asfahani said : “ The truth is that to be excused from knowing ijma, not Ijma of Sahabah, because they were united and scholars among them were little, and now after spread of Islam and big number of scholars, so we cannot desire its knowledge, and this is the choice of Ahmad despite his closeness from time of Sahabah, and his memory’s strength and his big knowledge of naqliyah things”

The mention of Asfahani is also in bahr Al Muheet of Zarkashi, as well as in Irshad Al Fuhul.

Know that one of the saying of Imam Ahmad restricts Ijma to that of Sahabah, can one blame Nawab Siddeeq Hassan Khan if he was to say the same.

Nowdays, with communications, Ijma can happen, after Sahabah it is difficult for one Mujtahid to know views of all other mujtahid of his times, It might be possible in some cases, Allah knows best.

People should be very carfull to attack people like Nawab Sahib, whp spent a lot of monmey to publish books of hadeeth in India, and he was the first to publish Fath Al baree in India, as a time people did not see that very good.

People who spent there lives teaching and spreading hadeeth, fighting shirk and bid'a, they might have some mistakes as every scholar do have, but they never took someone else saying over that of the Prophet saw deliberatly.

[AbuTaymiyah]

salam aleykum

As some ijma claimed by mistakes, then Nawab Sahib defintively condemned them, as Ijma on Taraweeh


here ar words from sharh Zarqani of Muwatta

http://hadith.al-islam.com/Display/Display.asp?Doc=7&Rec=347

So the author under the hadith that Umar ordered Ubay ibn Ka'b and Tamim Dari to lead people with 11 Rak'at, says : " And maybe Umar followed in this ( order) the salah of the Prophet saw at night as what is reported from Aishah that the Prophet saw prayed at night 11 rak'at, and the narrators disagree on what was prayed in Ramadan during Umar's time, Saib ibn Yazid emntions 11, and Yazid ibn Rawman narrates 23 rak'a and Nafi' mawla ibn Umar says he reached people praying 39 from which three witr.

And it is possible that Umar ordered them to pray 11 and he ordered the Qari to read lond surah with Miin in every Rak'a, because long prayer in Qira'at are best, and when people got tired he ordered to pray 23 to make takhfif of longer Qyam, ...and the situation remined this until day of Hurrah, Qyam became hard on them and they reduced qira'ah and imcreased mumber of Rak'a until 36 and 3 witr, and the situation remained like that until Umar ibn Abdel Aziz."

And Zarqani mentions that Malik takes 36 and shafi'i 20, and he mentions the saying of Abul Waleed sayoing the one who can pray 11 Rak'at with surah miin in very rak'at, this is the best

End of Zarqani Maliki's words

So we can see that Salag prayed 11, 20, 36 and Imam Zarqani did not mention Umar ibn Abel Azeez prayed 20 sunnah and 16 nawafil

Anybody who claims that from maliki or someone esle should bring a daleel from maliki book of fiqh


Here is a link to nasb Ruyah of Imam Zela'i Hannafi

http://www.al-eman.com/Islamlib/viewchp.asp?BID=271&CID=169#s1

Zela'i mentions hadith of Jabir that the Prophet saw prayed 11 in Tarawih.

Also Zela'i says the hadith of ibn Abbas about the Prophet is ma'lul ( having defect), as Abu Shaybah Ibrahim ibn Uthamn's weaknees is agreed upon and this hadith opposes the sahih, and then he tells the hadith of Aishah that the Prophet saw would not increase in Ramadan and ghayr Ramadan to 11.

Then he further mentions the two narrations from Muwatta the one of Yazeed ibn Ruman that people were praying 23 during Umar's time, and the other of Saib that Umar ordered Ubay ibn Ka'b and TAmim Dari to lead people with 11 rak'a, and Zela'i mentions Bayhaqi's saying that the jam' between these narrations is that first Umar ordered them to pray 11 then 20, and Yazid ibn Ruman did not reach Umar, end of Bayhqai's words

So we can see even Hanafi Muhaqiq do not claim Ijma on 20, rather show Prophet saw prayed 11 in taraweeh.

Here is Fath Al Bari

http://hadith.al-islam.com/Display/Display.asp?Doc=0&Rec=3158

Under the hadith of Aishah thet the Prophet did not increase over 11 in Ramadan or ghayr Ramadan.

Ibn Hajar says " As for what is reported by Ibn Abi SHaybah from the hadith Ibn Abbas, that the Prophet saw prayed 20 rak'at and witr, its isnad is weak, and it opposes this hadith of Aishah that is in two sahih whit also the fact that she is more knoledgable of the Prayer of night of the Prophet saw

Here are some maliki book of fiqh

Mukhtasar Khalil

http://feqh.al-islam.com/Display.asp?Mode=1&DocID=57&MaksamID=39&ParagraphID=493&Sharh=0&HitNo=1&Source=1&SearchString=57%23%20%C7%E1%CA%D1%C7%E6%ED%CD%230% 231%230%23%23%23%23%23

There is report from Nafi' that he saw people praying 39 with three witr, and Malik said the people never cessed this.
LAkhmi says what he takes is what Umar gathered people and it is 11 Rak'ah. Ibn Habib said Umar turned then to 23.

Mudawanah

http://feqh.al-islam.com/Display.asp?Mode=1&DocID=1&MaksamID=212&ParagraphID=430&Sharh=0&HitNo=9&Source=1&SearchString=1%23%20%D1%F3%E3%F3%D6%F3%C7%E4%F3%20 %230%231%230%23%23%23%23%23

In it there is the report of Nafi' that he did not see people except praying 39, and it is said that Umar ibn Abdel Aziz alos ordered 39.

So we can see some maliki fuqahas give tarjih of eleven, and they Umar gathered people on it, while other say that after he turned to 23. And there is no Ijma since some prayed 39.

So claiming an ijam on 20 is ridiculous

Even hanafee Muhaqiq like Shamee and ibn Humam and others
, said the Sunnah is 11, 20 is mustahab

Even Deobandis Ibn hjar Thanni Anwar Shah Kashmiri said taraweeh and Tahajud is one prayer

May Allah protec us from false Ijma