Appearance
Consensus and Analogy in 4:59
يَـٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوٓا۟ أَطِيعُوا۟ ٱللَّهَ وَأَطِيعُوا۟ ٱلرَّسُولَ وَأُو۟لِى ٱلْأَمْرِ مِنكُمْ ۖ فَإِن تَنَـٰزَعْتُمْ فِى شَىْءٍ فَرُدُّوهُ إِلَى ٱللَّهِ وَٱلرَّسُولِ إِن كُنتُمْ تُؤْمِنُونَ بِٱللَّهِ وَٱلْيَوْمِ ٱلْـَٔاخِرِ ۚ ذَٰلِكَ خَيْرٌ وَأَحْسَنُ تَأْوِيلًا
O you who have faith! Obey Allah and obey the Messenger and those vested with authority among you. And if you dispute concerning anything, refer it to Allah and the Messenger, if you have faith in Allah and the Last Day. That is better and more favorable in outcome. (4:59)
The question
Does the verse prove that the consensus of the community, and analogy (qiyās), are sources of religious law alongside the Qur’an and the Sunnah?
Views answered: an argument reported by al-Ṭabrisī · Fakhr al-Rāzī · al-Ṭūsī · Tafsīr al-Manār
Jawādī Āmulī’s argument
Āyatullāh Jawādī Āmulī finds no proof in the verse for either. That disputes must be referred to God and the Messenger does not make agreement authoritative when there is no dispute: it then simply needs no referral. Al-Ṭūsī’s reply falls short, since Sunni consensus does not rest on an infallible being present. Fakhr al-Rāzī’s argument from the first part of the verse would make contradictory consensuses in different places and times all binding, leaving religion without direction. Referring a dispute to God and the Messenger means deducing rulings from the Qur’an and the Sunnah, not analogy, which is guesswork that cannot settle disputes and cannot reach the hidden wisdom of rulings. And al-Manār confuses the sources of law with the ways of knowing them.
Views compared
The arguments are given as al-Tasnim reports them, with the works its notes cite. Each point opens al-Tasnim at that place.
Consensus from “if you dispute” Read →
Some, as reported by al-Ṭabrisī
Referral to the Qur’an and Sunnah is required only when there is a dispute, which is only valid if agreement is itself authoritative.Jawādī Āmulī
Where there is no dispute, no referral is needed because nothing is disputed, not because agreement is authoritative; and the first part of the verse already binds everyone to the Messenger.Al-Ṭūsī’s reply Read →
al-Ṭūsī
The argument holds only if an infallible person is among the community; otherwise it rests on an implied opposite meaning.Jawādī Āmulī
Still lacking: the Sunni proof of consensus does not include the presence of an infallible, so the argument must be refuted from the verse itself.Consensus from “obey … those vested with authority” Read →
Fakhr al-Rāzī
Since we cannot reach the infallible Imam in our time, those vested with authority must be the community’s elite, whose consensus is binding.Jawādī Āmulī
Then contradictory consensuses of different communities, or of different eras, would all be binding without need of the Qur’an and Sunnah: total chaos, and a religion without direction.Analogy (qiyās) Read →
Fakhr al-Rāzī
Disputes over matters the Qur’an, Sunnah and consensus do not settle are to be referred to the most similar ruling in them: this is analogy.Jawādī Āmulī
Rulings hold divine secrets reason cannot reach, as theft and bribery show; and analogy is a guess that ignites disputes rather than settling them. The verse means deducing from the Qur’an and Sunnah (ijtihād).Sources and ways of knowing Read →
Tafsīr al-Manār
The principles of religion are the Qur’an, the Sunnah, the consensus of the elite, and comparison of disputed cases with known rulings.Jawādī Āmulī
Useful remarks, but sources must be distinguished from the ways of knowing them: the Qur’an and Sunnah are sources, while consensus, even if authoritative, only reveals them.Reading guide
Each step opens al-Tasnim at that point.
- The verse as a foundation for the sources of law
- Consensus from the second part of the verse
- Al-Ṭūsī’s reply and why it falls short
- Consensus from the first part of the verse
- Fakhr al-Rāzī on analogy, and the reply
- Al-Manār’s mix-up of sources and methods
The whole commentary on 4:59 → · The same verse in al-Mizan’s Key Debates ↗