Ijma
E43187
Ijma is an Islamic legal principle referring to the consensus of qualified scholars on a religious or legal issue, serving as a source of Sharia alongside the Quran and Sunnah.
Statements (47)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
Islamic legal principle
→
principle of Usul al‑Fiqh → source of Islamic law → |
| aimsTo |
preserve doctrinal and legal unity of the Muslim community
→
|
| appliesTo |
legal issues
→
religious issues → |
| basedOn |
hadith about the community not agreeing on misguidance
→
|
| consideredSourceAlongside |
Quran
→
Sunnah → |
| contrastedWith |
individual opinion (ra’y)
→
isolated scholarly view (shadh opinion) → |
| definedAs |
consensus of qualified scholars on a religious or legal issue
→
|
| disputedBy |
Zahiri school
→
some Shia scholars → |
| epistemicStatus |
considered to yield certainty (yaqin) by many Sunni usulis
→
|
| hasCondition |
must not contradict Quran
→
must not contradict authentic Sunnah → |
| hasEffect |
closes further ijtihad on that specific issue in many views
→
makes ruling binding on the community → |
| hasHistoricalDevelopment |
systematized by early Sunni jurists such as al‑Shafi‘i
→
|
| hasMeaning |
consensus
→
|
| hasRole |
deriving legal rulings
→
providing certainty in law → resolving new legal issues → |
| hasType |
explicit consensus
→
local consensus → tacit consensus → universal consensus → |
| languageOfOrigin |
Arabic
→
|
| normativeStatus |
authoritative proof in Sunni legal theory
→
|
| partOf |
Usul al‑Fiqh
→
|
| rankInSourcesOfLaw |
third after Quran and Sunnah in Sunni Islam
→
|
| recognizedBy |
Sunni Islam
→
many classical Muslim jurists → |
| relatedConcept |
Ijtihad
→
Qiyas → |
| requires |
agreement of qualified mujtahids
→
knowledge of all relevant scholarly opinions in its scope → |
| scope |
can be limited to scholars of a particular era
→
can be limited to scholars of a particular region according to some views → |
| usedBy |
Muslim jurists
→
fuqaha → mujtahids → |
| usedFor |
extending rulings to new circumstances
→
interpreting ambiguous texts → |
| usedIn |
Islamic jurisprudence
→
Sharia → |
Referenced by (1)
| Subject (surface form when different) | Predicate |
|---|---|
|
Qiyas
→
|
distinguishedFrom |