Sheikh Muhammad b. Husayn al-Jizani
Considerations of human welfare are among the most complex and precise aspects of Islamic jurisprudence. These considerations are essential to juristic reasoning and are among the areas of law most open to the jurist's personal opinions and assessments.
We need to understand that though personal opinion plays an important role in deriving legal rulings on the basis of the general welfare, this does not mean giving free rein to the jurist's whims. There is still a burden of evidence. There are strict guidelines that the jurist must adhere to, embodied in the principle that all considerations of welfare must conform to the general objectives that Islamic Law seeks to realize.
On this basis, we can see that such considerations play no part in determining matters of pure ritual worship – like the motions of prayer and the prescribed rites of the pilgrimage – since such matters are not rationally discernable in the context of considerations of welfare. Such matters are known to us only because Allah revealed them to us through the verses of the Qur'ân and through the statements and actions of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him).
There is no room for our opinions to come in to play with respect to such questions as why the Zuhr prayer is four units and the Maghrib prayer is three, or why we walk around the Ka`bah counter-clockwise instead of clockwise, or why we begin our fasts at dawn instead of at sunrise.
However, this does not mean that considerations of welfare are never applicable to matters of worship. Jurists can, and often must, take such factors into consideration when dealing with the practical aspects of carrying out our worship. There are many contingencies that are not addressed by the sacred texts.
We need to make a distinction between the formal rites of worship themselves and the practical concerns that a worshiper faces trying to carry out those rites. For example, the times specified for the five prayers and the fact that we face the direction of Mecca in our prayers are not open to our discretion. They are formal rites that we know about only by way of revelation. Reason plays no role in our knowledge of these rites.
At the same time, determining the direction of Mecca from a given locality is a matter open to juristic opinion. Various solutions may be arrived at. The use of compasses is a good example of this. Likewise, relying on watches and standardized prayer calendars facilitates for many people knowing the times of prayer, especially in urban environments where it is difficult to determine these matters by way of direct observation of the sky.
These means to facilitate our worship have been left open to us in Islamic Law. They come under the general axiom: "That which is necessary in order to carry out an obligation becomes an obligation as well."
An example related to the Pilgrimage is the building of a second tier in the Grand Mosque in Mecca for circumambulating the Ka`bah and making the circuits between Mount Safâ and Miunt Marwah. The same can be said for building a bridge to facilitate access to the jamrahs.
We can see this distinction in the practice of the Companions. They took the general welfare into consideration in two different sets of rulings. First, they did so in general matters not related to the formal rites of worship. This includes measures enacted by the Rightly-Guided Caliphs to set up record-books for the treasury and establish systems for monitoring the quality of manufacturing.
Secondly, they did so in matters related to formal worship, but only with respect to facilitating worship and addressing the practical needs of carrying that worship out. This would include their compiling the Qur'ân in book form and the recording of the Sunnah.
There is a clear distinction between these considerations of welfare on the one hand and innovations in worship on the other. Juristic discretion and opinion can be used to determine rulings that facilitate the means to worship in matters that are not addressed by the sacred texts, like in the examples given above.
Such considerations cannot be used to determine, modify, or introduce formal rites of worship. Any attempt to do so would be a source of unlawful innovation. Our rites of worship can only be established by way of revelation.
The Prophet (peace be upon him) said: “Whoever introduces something into this affair of ours will have it rejected.”
And Allah knows best.
Source: Islam Today
