Distracting the command and prohibition from their apparent meaning based on the presumption of politeness according to Imam Ibn al-Amir al-San’ani (a comparative fundamentalist jurisprudential study)

Abstract

This research contains a report of the two fundamental Islamic jurisprudential principles: The command is based on obligation, while the prohibition is based on forbidding, except with an impediment, that makes the purpose of the “command” whether to grieve or dislike something. Among the most important of these impediments are those in the context of politeness and morals. To clarify these impediments, the researcher chose Imam Al-Sana'ani as a case study for his research, and traced his words in this context, and the extent of his application and neglect of these impediments. The researchers also collected what is available from the words of the scholars in general and the Zahiri school in particular about these impediments to demonstrate their point of view regarding them and then to stand on the extent of their application and their neglect of this evidence of politeness. The researcher concluded that politeness and the virtues of morals are valid evidence to turn the outward meaning of commands and prohibitions into desirability and dislike because it is perfection, and perfection is not an obligation. Most of the scholars used politeness and the virtues of morals, but sometimes the command and the prohibition are applied through other evidence, which may be stronger than them, so the text remains on its outward meaning. The Zahiri school differed from the majority of scholars. They did not implement the evidence of politeness and the virtues of morals, nor anything else. In other words, they didn’t use any impediment of the command and the prohibition except within a text or consensus. While Imam Al-Sana'ani did not see politeness and the virtues of morals as valid evidence to divert the text from its outward meaning, it is not an imitation of the Zahiri school, as he contradicts them in their fundamental principle, which is the use of analogy and the meanings of the texts in agreement with the general scholars and the consensus of the predecessors. The conclusions of Imam Al-Sana'ani refer to a diligent scholar who follows the evidence wherever it appears to him and rejects imitation and fanaticism.