A Critique of the Methodology of Ysuf al-Qaradw in Usl

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Some of those who permit Islamic banking such as Ustdh Ysuf Qaradw in his book on
Buying and Selling say:
From the right of the Ulama of this era is to strive in regards to new matters which
arise in order to clarify the position of contemporary Islaam. just as it is a right of
the Ulama of the era to take or leave the statements of the Ulama of the past (radi
Allhu anhum), with still maintaining our honour of all of them because they are
not infallible. Likewise from their right is to oppose the fatw of those (Ulama) of
the past in some past issues when applied to new issues, this is because during
their times the circumstances were not as they are today. And who knows, for if the
Fuqahaa of the past were alive today and saw what we see they may have changed
their ijtihaad and fataawaa and acknowledged that the fatwa changes with the
changes of time and circumstances.
Whenever the fatwa changes this takes ijtihd with Usl tafseel and taseel as mentioned in Ilm ul-
Muwaqqieen which we mentioned in our lessons on Ilm ul-Usl, so I say: Yes, it is from the right
of the Ulama to take or leave and to make ijtihd. But it is not from their right to bypass the
texts. It is not from their right to leave a text which has infallibility, for the text always possesses
legislative authority and the text is revelation from One Who knows the past, present and the
future (Allh). The text is firm, comprehensive and includes all angles and with the Ahkm ul-
Fiqhiyyah there is no difference between the individual and the whole, between real persons or

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Can be heard and downloaded here:
http://www.archive.org/details/ShiekhMashhoorHasanAl-salmanClarifiesTheProblemInJurisprudenceOf
and
http://ia311033.us.archive.org/2/items/ShiekhMashhoorHasanAl-
salmanClarifiesTheProblemInJurisprudenceOf/mp3_64kb.mp3

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SalafiManhaj 2009
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A Critique of the Methodology of Ysuf al-Qaradw in Usl
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SalafiManhaj 2009
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theoretical. So the Ahkm for individual persons are also applied to companies, banks etc. In this
way. For example, listen to another text which is a text which when mentioned by al-Qaradw
he made an analogy with it and used what he wanted from it and left what it mentions as Ahl
ul-Bida do. Al-Qaradw has broad investigation however his Usl is twisted in his istidll
(method of deduction and inference). The pressures of the reality make him infer with Maqsid
and general words wherein he bypasses the texts. What I view therefore is that heedlessness to
the features of the texts and to the fact that they have arrived from One Who is Wise and Well-
Informed (Allh), Who Knows the Unseen and what will happen, this heedlessness gives birth to
numerous obstacles and manifest negatives. Going in depth into inferring from the words of the
Fuqah without understanding the relayed texts and what has been relayed in regards to a
particular subject, and also neglecting the intents and meanings (Maqsid and Man) without
stopping at the terms and motives (Alfdh and Mabn) whoever does not take this into
consideration will not achieve the truth.