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Spiritual_Roadmap_by_Ghazali, page : 75
you‟ (Koran 5, 5); when the instruction has been made perfect, the death of the instructor does no
harm, any
more than does his being hidden”.
There remains their argument: “How do you judge a point of law on which there has been no explicit
ruling?
Is it by the letter of the law (nass)? But you have not heard it. Is it by your independent
interpretation (Ijtihad)
and opinion (ra‟y)? That is precisely the place where differences occur”.
To this we reply: “We do what Mu`ath did when the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, sent him to
the Yemen; we judge by the actual text where there is a text, and by our independent reasoning
where there
is no text.¹ That is exactly what their preachers do when they are away from the
Imam at the remotest
corners of the land. They cannot in all cases judge by the text, for the texts which are finite in
number cannot
harm, any
more than does his being hidden”.
There remains their argument: “How do you judge a point of law on which there has been no explicit
ruling?
Is it by the letter of the law (nass)? But you have not heard it. Is it by your independent
interpretation (Ijtihad)
and opinion (ra‟y)? That is precisely the place where differences occur”.
To this we reply: “We do what Mu`ath did when the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, sent him to
the Yemen; we judge by the actual text where there is a text, and by our independent reasoning
where there
is no text.¹ That is exactly what their preachers do when they are away from the
Imam at the remotest
corners of the land. They cannot in all cases judge by the text, for the texts which are finite in
number cannot