Consensus (ijma') is the third source of Islamic law. Write an account of ijma' and give two examples of how it was practiced in the time of the Companions.

Mark scheme

Marking points from the official mark scheme (May/June 2022). The mark or mark type is shown in brackets.

1. [10] (a) After the Qur'an and Hadith of the Prophet (pbuh) come the secondary sources of law. Ijma' is the third source and can be referred to only if there is no clear teaching on the matter being looked into in the primary sources. The Prophet (pbuh) made ijma' permissible when he said, 'my community will never agree upon an error'.
2. [10] (a) There are broadly two kinds of ijma', the first is the general agreement of all Muslims in matters of belief and the second one is related to legal matters. This can be defined as an agreement among a group of Muslims about an issue on which the Qur'an and Sunna have not given a final word.
3. [10] (a) There are different opinions on who make up this group of Muslims whose ijma' should be followed. Here candidates can give a list of different opinions on whose ijma' should be accepted. They should also write an account of the list of rules that were established for the sake of consistency in decisions made through ijma', for example, the jurists authorised to do ijma', must have a thorough knowledge of the Qur'an and Sunna, they have to be pious and God fearing.
4. [10] (a) The second part of the question is asking the candidate to give two examples of ijma' practiced in the time of the Companions. The election of Abu Bakr as caliph could be one and the decision to compile the Qur'an in the time could be the other. Candidates could give other examples such as in 'Uthman's time ijma' was taken on whether two adhans should be given to call believers to the Friday prayers.
5. [10] (a) All valid examples should be accepted.
6. [4] (b) Those who agree with the statement could say that new rulings can be formed for new issues that arise based on their similarity with the laws of the Qur'an and Sunna.
7. [4] (b) For changing aspects of human life, the Qur'an and Sunna provide basic principles which may be applied by analogy whenever the need arises for example, the issue of drugs could be cited, cocaine was not present in the Prophet's time so is its use allowed? The Prophet (pbuh) had said, 'Every intoxicant is khamr, and every khamr is haram,' so every intoxicant is unlawful is a conclusion that could be derived using analogy.
8. [4] (b) An opposing argument might state that some schools of thought may disagree with the given statement as qiyas depends very much on the ability of a legal expert to find comparisons between two principles, and because it is practiced by individuals it causes unease to some Muslims as it does not have the same broad support, as the other three sources.