Even Prophet’s Disagreed

Even PROPHETS Differed of Opinion – داود وسليمان

Example of King David & Solomon – both Prophets.

Difference of Opinion (اختلاف) is not frowned upon, if the difference of opinion is valid (الخلاف المعتبر).

Even PROPHETS differed (الأنبياء يختلفون)!

Even ANGELS (الملائكة) differed!

Lets look at this example of a judicial case, on which TWO PROPHETS gave TWO DIFFERENT rulings:

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وَدَاوُودَ وَسُلَيْمَانَ إِذْ يَحْكُمَانِ فِي الْحَرْثِ إِذْ نَفَشَتْ فِيهِ غَنَمُ الْقَوْمِ وَكُنَّا لِحُكْمِهِمْ شَاهِدِينَ فَفَهَّمْنَاهَا سُلَيْمَانَ وَكُلًّا آتَيْنَا حُكْمًا وَعِلْمًا

“And remember David and Solomon, when both of them were to decide (the dispute) of a crop when the goats of a tribe, unattended by the shepherd, entered the farm (of someone else) at night (and destroyed it). And We were witnessing their judgment. At that time We gave Solomon insight to arrive at the right decision, but We had given wise judgement and knowledge to both of them.” [Qur’an 21:78-79].

Basically, this is what happened here:

A shepherds goats entered the farm of another man and destroyed his crops.

Prophet David ruled: The farmer takes the goat from the shepherd permanently – as compensation for the destruction of his farm.

Prophet Solomon (his son – also a Prophet) ruled DIFFERENTLY: The farmer takes the goats from the shepherd temporarily and makes use of their milk, etc.- until the shepherd has fully restored his farm to its original state. Then they swap back the goats and the farm and both get back to their original state.

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The Same case – two DIFFERENT rulings.

God favoured the ruling of Prophet Solomon but DID NOT criticize Prophet David.

God praised both of them, by saying: “BOTH of them were given WISE JUDGEMENT and KNOWLEDGE”. [21:79].

Imam al-Shafi’i in ‘al-Umm’ (7/99) quotes al-Hassan:

لولا هذه الآية لرأيت أن الحكام قد هلكوا ولكن الله حمد هذا لصوابه وأثنى على هذا باجتهاده
“If it wasn’t for this verse, I would have thought that the rulers are doomed! But in this verse, God praised the ruler that was correct and commended the other one for trying to reach the right conclusion (ijtihad).”

Similarly, Prophet Moses differed with his brother Haroon who was also a Prophet.

Prophet Moses also differed with Khidr.

Similary, the Angels differed about the man who killed 100 people: https://sunnah.com/bukhari/60/137

This shows the legality of differing (مشروعية الاختلاف).

The same principle applies to scholars in issues of jurisprudence (المسائل الفقهية), as the Prophet said:

إذا اجتهد الحاكم فأصاب فله أجران وإذا اجتهد فأخطأ فله أجر

So even when the ijtihad is wrong, they will get rewarded for trying to reach the truth.

However, some people are trying to unite the entire Ummah on ONE opinion, even in Fiqhi & Ijtihadi issues.

This has never happened and will never happen.

UNITY DOES NOT MEAN UNIFORMITY.

We don’t have to be the SAME to UNITE.

We can unite despite our differences.

The Sahaba differed of opinion, so did the Tabi’ieen and they were the best of generations.

People will always disagree.

It’s OK.

God loves diversity, that’s why He created different types of trees, mountains, flowers, birds, animals, colours, languages, etc.

There is no disagreement about the fundamentals, walilahilhamd.

The differences are in the branches of religion.

That’s OK … its not a problem.

If the difference itself is invalid (غير معتبر), then this doesn’t apply.

Allaahu A’alam