General Guidelines on Legal Rulings (Ahkaamaat)

Qur’an, as the primary source of Islamic rulings mentions the list of impressible actions that can be counted on finger tips. These include rape, intercourse out of wedlock, eating pork, drinking alcohol, murder, Riba (interest) etc. Hadith explains the items mentioned impermissible in Qur’an. The literature of hadith is quite broad, along with its interpretations. There are classifications of narrations as authentic and inauthentic. There are differences on how to classify narrations as authentic or inauthentic. And there are differences on whether the rulings mentioned in hadith are for Prophet Muhammad’s time or for the all times. According to Iqbal (1930) and his likes, the laws mentioned in Qur’an are for all times, however, laws mentioned in hadith only have to be interpreted according to time and location, especially when there are various laws in hadith regarding the same issue. Other than these two, ‘scholars’ mention another source of law, and this is where it gets out of control. Anything over which there is Ijma’ (consensus) it becomes a law. And ironically, there is no consensus over consensus. There are hundreds of definitions of what consensus is.

Qur’an clearly says that ‘God wants ease for you and does not want difficulty for you’, but what we have today is a long list of impermissible which makes almost everything haram. Prophet Muhammad warned people from searching laws for everything and disliked when people would ask for ruling on matters on which nothing was revealed. Qur’an also mentions story of people of Israel who made things prohibited on themselves which were made lawful by God, and Muslims have done the same.