Posted by Abu Iyaad
Saturday, Nov 02 2024
Filed under Fiqh & ʿIbādah
This is a summary of the chapter on the meaning of “nawāzil”, from the four volume book, “Fiqh al-Nawāzil” of al-Jīrānī.[1]
The word nāzilah is a noun that in the language refers to something that descends and settles down, referring to an event or a situation.[2] In general, among the various madhāhīb, the word nawāzil refers to occurrences, verdicts (given in relation to them), often in dealings of wealth and inheritance that are brought to a judge or scholar.
However, that which is meant by it in particular is: A new issue that has occurred having no text or prior ijtihād and which requires clarification of its ruling through ijtihād as a matter of urgency.
This is taken from the speech of a number of scholars who spoke about it.
From them is Ibn ʿAbd al-Barr (رحمه الله):
Chapter: Ijtihād of opinion based on the foundations (uṣūl) in the absence of texts when a nāzilah descends.[3]
And the saying of al-Nawawī (رحمه الله):
And within it is the ijtihād of the scholars in nawāzil and returning them to the foundations.[4]
What is meant by returning to the foundations is that since there is no text related to the issue, then the general foundations (uṣūl) are used to arrive at a ruling through ijtihād.
And Ibn al-Qayyim (رحمه الله):
The Companions of Allāh’s Messenger used to make ijtihād in the nawāzil.[5]
A series of questions can be asked to help identify and particularise the meaning of the word nāzilah.
01 First, is this event, occurrence or issue, has it actually taken place (wāqiʿah) or is it just theoretically assumed or posed (muqaddarah)?
02 Second, if it has actually taken place, then is it something completely new, not having occurred before, or has it occurred before?
03 Third, if this new occurrence or issue is new, without any prior occurrence then does it urgently require a legislative ruling, or not?
If it is urgent and pressing, in the sense that a legislative ruling is required, then this is what is called a nāzilah.
As such, a nāzilah must have three meanings: Actual occurrence, completely new and severity, urgency (as in, the ruling is urgently required).
As for actual occurrence, then this excludes all those events, occurrences, situations and issues which are theoretically posed but which are impossible or which are highly unlikely. As such these are outside the definition of a nāzilah, as is obvious, as they do not occur, and the requirement of a nāzilah is that there must be actual occurrence.
As for events that have already occurred previously, then they are also outside of the definition. Hence, they must be issues which the scholars and jurists have not encountered before as it relates to finding a ruling for them.
So if it is an occurrence, and it is new with no precedence, then it must also be urgent and severe, with the meaning that it requires a legislative ruling, and it is from this angle that it is considered, urgent, from the angle of the Sharīʿah perspective and ruling upon it.
The author, after the above states:
Through this condition (qayd) those new occurrences which are not urgent from the Sharīʿah aspect are excluded, and this is because:
- This new occurrence does not require a Sharīʿah perspective (view, analysis) on it, but it requires a medical opinion, or an administrative position (taken with respect to it), such as [the case] with diseases not encountered before, or natural disasters that happen by Allāh’s command and decree. [Likewise] economic and political disturbances. These events are not considered nawāzil through the definition considered. Except O Allāh, when a legislative ruling is connected to them, such as the disease of immunodeficiency (AIDS), and the rulings that ensue from it, such as custody [of children], and breastfeeding, and separation between the two spouses, and likewise, changes in currency rates and tying them to [trade, business, financial] obligations and debts.
- Or because this new event has not occurred to the Muslims, rather it has occurred only to the disbelievers, such as the [issue] of sperm banks. So whatever is unique to the disbelievers of [new] issues, then it does not call for a legislative ruling, except when it is feared that Muslims may be put to trial with it.
- Or it is a specific [limited] occurrence, from the issues affecting individuals, or they might not be specific, but they have not ascended to the level where they are open, spread and common and that is because they are rare.
Summary Definition
Then the author summarises the three requirements (quyūd) in a definition for a nāzilah:
What requires a legislative ruling of new occurrences.
Or they are:
New occurrences, urgently requiring [a legislative ruling].
Finally, there is a distinction to be made between the nawāzil which are new issues that urgently require a legislative ruling and other events. The difference between them is the nawāzil are unique in the sense that they must be connected to a legislative ruling, and that is where the sense of urgency lies.
This helps to distinguish a nāzilah with this particular meaning, with what are general events and crises, whether new or not, whether urgent or not, such as disasters, floods, epidemics, economic downturns, wars etc. These are simply general crises and the rulers and relevant authorities address these matters from an administrative and logistical point of view.
Examples of Nawāzil
In relation to creed: Call to unity of religions, Marxism, Communism, new sects such as the Qādiyānīs, and so on. These require rulings so their realities are known from the legislative perspective.
Issues related to trade, currencies (digital) and their impact upon things such as zakāh.
Medical issues such as IVF for fertility treatment, the use of contraceptives, organ transplants, euthanasia and so on.
Issues related to secular laws and ruling by the Sharīʿah, elections, democracy and so on.
These affairs are new and require rulings to be extracted from the Qurʾān and the Sunnah and the foundations (uṣūl) of the religion to provide clarity and guidance to Muslims as it relates to the rulings on these affairs, such as truth, falsehood, guidance, misguidance (regarding creeds and ideologies), validity, invalidity, obligatory, recommended, permissible, disliked, unlawful can be known.
Note: As for epidemics and new diseases, then they do not come under the nāzilah as defined, as they have occurred throughout history, but in a more general sense, they are a crisis, so they are a nāzilah in a more general sense. These types of events are addressed in an administrative and logistical manner, similar to calamities in general, such as a flood, or an earthquake, with the involvement of the relevant authorities.
Throughout history, there have been plagues and epidemics, and physicians and specialists have differed with each other in how to treat the disease and the epidemic in general, however, no one censored or silenced physicians and specialists with the claim that these affairs are from the nawāzil which only rulers and scholars speak about. No one forced physicians or specialists to accept and operate upon a particular medical theory or school or condemned them for having their views. These are medical issues, and medicine is at minimum permissible, and recommended at best.
Hence, there is a domain for physicians, specialists, and there is a domain for scholars. Scholars are returned to when a legislative ruling is required, and they defer to the physicians and specialists for soliciting an opinion or evaluation, where they are in need of that for giving a ruling. As for scholars evaluating medical views and opinions in themselves, then that is not their domain, their domain is clarification of Islāmic rulings.
Refer to: The Scholars Defer to Specialists in Matters of Medicine
Footnotes
1. Fiqh al-Nawāzil: Dirāsah Taʾṣīliyyah Taṭbīqiyyah (Dār Ibn al-Jawzī, Dammām, 1428) by Muḥammad Ḥusayn al-Jīrānī.2. Refer to Lisān al-ʿArab (11/656, 659).
3. Jāmiʿ Bayān al-ʿIlm wa Faḍlihī (2/55).
4. Sharḥ al-Nawawī ʿalā Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim (1/213).
5. Iʿlām al-Muwaqqiʿīn (1/203).
