07

Ijma — the agreement of the ummah

الإجماع

Ijma is the agreement of the mujtahids of an age on a hukm. The dalil is “My ummah will not agree upon error,” and the Quran’s blame of those who split after knowledge. Ijma is not a poll of the internet. It is not “most people in my city.” It is the scholars who can extract, in a generation, agreeing.

1. إجماع الصحابة

   Ijma of the Companions

   The strongest form. The four accept it. The Khalifahs, the number of the prayers, the mushaf of Uthman.

2. الإجماع السكوتي

   Silent ijma

   Some spoke, the rest were quiet. Hanafis often count it. Others are slower. Silence can be fear, or not knowing the case.

3. لا عبرة بمن بعدهم

   Later dissent after ijma

   Once an age has agreed, a later mujtahid does not undo it. He may explain it.

4. مستند الإجماع

   Ijma rests on a text

   Consensus is not a fifth revelation. It rests on a Quranic or Sunnah dalil that the scholars saw, even if we no longer all name the same road.

When someone says “there is ijma,” ask: of whom, in which century, recorded by whom. Ibn al-Mundhir and Ibn Hazm named ijmas. Read them before you repeat them.