Understanding Legal Choices in Islamic Jurisprudence

We want to discuss an important issue among later scholars.

The later jurists of the school when they state, regarding an issue, that such-and-such is the preferred view, mention this in some legal texts, and this is well known.

That is, in the later scholars’ legal texts, when they say “the preferred view is such- and- such,” it means that this view is one of two views, or that the issue has two views.

One is the school’s established view, and the other is another report.

And the other report was preferred by Sheikh Taqi al-Din.

So when they say that such-and-such is the preferred view, they mean that this is Sheikh Taqi al-Din’s view, which differs from the established view held by the majority.

For this reason, a number of the school’s leading jurists, including Sheikh Taqi al-Din and al-Muwaffaq, as well as Abu al-Khattab ibn Aqil and Abu Ya'la, indeed, most of Abu Ya'la’s students, all had preferred views that remained within the bounds of the school,

because they based their preferences on the school’s principles.

Their preferences may differ from the view of most of the school’s jurists, in which case we attribute the view to them as a preference.

These preferences remain within the bounds of the school because they are one of two possibilities, The author pointed out a little earlier that it may either have been preceded by another view, and this is what he means by that.

This is usually a transmitted view, so it was preceded by another view, and he chose a view that came before it, or this transmitted view had not been preceded by one, but he derived it from Ahmad’s principles, If the one who derived it was among the scholars who formulate positions,

who knew Ahmad’s principles and were familiar with the evidence on which he based them, namely the Book and the Sunnah, and knew them, then there is no doubt that what he chose would be a recognized position in Ahmad’s school.

Thus, every position chosen by Shaykh Taqi al-Din is a recognized position in the school, either because he chose something that had been stated before, or, if no one had previously held it, because he based it on Imam Ahmad’s principles,

as shown by the fact that he has more than one book on weighing Ahmad’s principles and providing evidence for them, including the well- known al- Qawa'id al- Nuraniyyah, Another indication is that the school’s jurists cite the Shaykh’s choices as recognized positions.

For example, the author of al-Furu', al-Jarra'i, and the author of al-Insaf, among many others, as well as al-Iqna'.

Even if no one in the school had previously held the view that he expressed, it still counts as a position in the school.

And the third point is that when scholars said that a scholar who exercises independent reasoning within the school is considered to have a position only if he is one of the authorities who formulate positions.

— Some people objected during the Sheikh’s lifetime, asking, “Was Sheikh Taqi al- Din one of those authorities?”

Ibn al- Qayyim replied, “Yes, the Sheikh was one of those authorities, without a doubt.

In fact, he may have known Ahmad’s texts and principles better than some of the followers of Qadi Abu Ya‘la.

This was affirmed by someone who was both the Sheikh’s student and his teacher, namely al-Tufi.

In his biography, al-Tufi related that he studied under Sheikh Taqi al-Din, and the Sheikh’s biography says that Sheikh Taqi al-Din studied grammar under him.

In his commentary on Mukhtasar al-Rawda, al-Tufi wrote, “Whoever is learned in Ahmad’s texts, legal questions, principles, and the evidence on which he based them can exercise independent reasoning according to the school of Imam Ahmad, meaning that he can derive positions.”

He said, “Among them is our Sheikh, Sheikh Taqi al-Din Ibn Taymiyyah.”

The great scholars Ibn al-Qayyim, al-Tufi, and those who came after them acknowledged that the views he formulated through his own choices count as positions within the school.”

What matters to me is that we know that when later scholars use “the chosen view,” they say “the chosen view,” and when the definite article is added to it, what is meant by “the chosen view” is not among the compilers, but with Shaykh Taqi al-Din, may God have mercy on him,

because al- Baali compiled his preferred views, so his statements were called “selections” for that reason. Yes.