OR 2

Mark scheme

Marking points from the official mark scheme (Oct/Nov 2024). The mark or mark type is shown in brackets.

1. [5] (a) Imam Hanifa
2. [5] (a) Imam Shafi
3. [5] (a) Imam Malik
4. [5] (a) Imam Hanbal Ahmad
5. [5] (a) Imam Jafar
6. [5] (a) Ibn Taymiyyah
7. [5] (a) Ashari
8. [5] (a) Qaradawi
9. [5] (a) Ayatollah Khomeini
10. [5] (a) Ayatollah Sistani
11. [10] (b) The Qur'an 4: 59 states: 'O ye who believe! obey God and obey the Apostle and those charged with authority among you. If ye differ in anything among yourselves refer it to God and His Apostle if ye do believe in God and the Last Day: that is best and most suitable for final determination.'
12. [10] (b) Ijma is the consensus of scholarly opinion about an issue. After the Qur'an and Sunnah, consensus (ijma') is regarded as a source of authority in Islamic jurisprudence (fiqh).
13. [10] (b) Consensus can never contradict or come above the primary sources.
14. [10] (b) Consensus is largely dependent on the primary sources, because scholars meet and research what they can find in the Qur'an and Hadith to guide their decision.
15. [10] (b) After the death of the Prophet (pbuh), the companions sometimes met to agree what to do, based on what they had seen the Prophet (pbuh) do.
16. [10] (b) For example, under the Rightly-Guided Caliphs the companions met to agree some appointments, and agreed that the Qur'an should be written down. This shows how consensus (ijma') was used at the time.
17. [10] (b) The main details about prayers were clear from the Sunnah. Further details about how to perform the Ramadan (taraweeh) prayers and the call to prayer (adhan) before the Friday prayers were defined by the ijma' of the companions.
18. [10] (b) Besides religious practice, some used consensus (ijma) to help guide social issues. The Qur'an prohibits a Muslim man from marrying his daughters, sisters or mother. It was agreed by ijma that grandmothers and granddaughters must not be married to them.
19. [10] (b) Hanifa wrote a letter to 'Abbasid Caliph al-Mansur, explaining some of his methods. He wrote that he worked first by the Book of God, then by the Sunnah of the Prophet, and then by the judgements of Abu Bakr, 'Umar, 'Uthman and 'Ali, then by the judgements of the rest of the companions (sahaba). Then, if there are any differences between their rulings, he would use analogy (qiyas).
20. [10] (b) This is taken to show how to use the four main sources of fiqh together: Qur'an, Sunnah, consensus (ijma') of the companions and analogy (qiyas).
21. [10] (c) Muhammad (pbuh) said in a Hadith that: 'My people will never agree upon an error.' This is taken to justify consensus (ijma') and give it importance to many schools of jurisprudence (fiqh), which have applied it in the past and to address new issues today.
22. [10] (c) There are many issues which are not covered by the primary sources of Islamic law, such as the use of technology, genetic engineering, smoking, issues of living in different communities and so on. It may be argued that consensus (ijma ') is important today and should be used to gain answers from the perspective of the knowledge of scholars. They can guide Muslims carefully and make rulings which, given their agreement, can be trusted by Muslims.
23. [10] (c) There are some differences of emphasis from the four main Sunni schools of jurisprudence. Hanafi, which applies consensus (ijma') to many situations today. Another perspective is Maliki, which emphasises the agreement of the early Medinan scholars, whilst allowing for the possibility of consensus (ijma '). In practice, this means Maliki use may be more limited today, than it was in the early Medinan period.
24. [10] (c) Imam Hanbal rejected consensus (ijma ') in his time, claiming that there was no real consensus, and Hanbalis often argue that consensus cannot be achieved today and that it is valid to make analogy – which may differ between scholars, which is acceptable.
25. [10] (c) Shi'i scholars place more importance on consensus (ijma') and do not restrict it to any time period. The Imams are able to make rulings with authority stretching back to the Prophet (pbuh) and find consensus amongst them. Their authority includes the belief that they do not err in interpretation, so their agreement carries additional importance in the use of consensus (ijma').
26. [10] (c) Ibn Taymiyyah, and more recent groups such as the Salafi, emphasise the use of the consensus of the companions and followers (Salaf); where the Salaf do not leave clear of agreed guidance, diversity of individual interpretation should be accepted rather than consensus. Modern consensus (ijma ') is therefore seen as impossible.