Letter & Spirit Of The Law

Do we stick to:

The LETTER of the text (حرفية النص),
Or the SPIRIT of the text (روح النص)?

Well …both methodologies are valid – but sticking to the spirit (intended meanings/objectives) of the text seems to be the correct methodology, inshaAllah.

Even the Companions of the Prophet had these two different approaches and the Prophet did not rebuke any of them – nor should we!

These two distinct methodologies led to the split in the Fiqh & Aqidah schools – and this is fine.

In Aqeedah (عقيدة), ahlus-Sunnah consists of 3 schools:

Ash’ari, Maturidy & Athari. The Atharis stick to the letters of the texts. The Ash’aris and Maturidis, stick to the meanings of the texts – beyond the letters.

In Fiqh (فقه), ahlus-Sunnah consists of 4 schools:

Hanafi, Maliki, Shafi’ie and Hanbali. The Hanbalis stick to the letter of the law. The Hanafis, Malikis and Shafi’ies, stick to the spirit of the law.

Don’t fall for all the sectarianism:

All 7 schools are ahlus-Sunnah – regardless of what the fanatics (متعصبين) from each camp say about the other.

They all agree on the fundamentals, all their differences are ijtihadi – forgiven and rewarded, inshaAllaah.

Two examples below from Sahaba:

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1- Imaam Bukhari narrated in his ‘Sahih’ (1420):

عَنْ عَائِشَةَ، رضى الله عنها أَنَّ بَعْضَ، أَزْوَاجِ النَّبِيِّ صلى الله عليه وسلم قُلْنَ لِلنَّبِيِّ صلى الله عليه وسلم أَيُّنَا أَسْرَعُ بِكَ لُحُوقًا قَالَ ‏ “‏ أَطْوَلُكُنَّ يَدًا ‏”‏‏.‏ فَأَخَذُوا قَصَبَةً يَذْرَعُونَهَا، فَكَانَتْ سَوْدَةُ أَطْوَلَهُنَّ يَدًا، فَعَلِمْنَا بَعْدُ أَنَّمَا كَانَتْ طُولَ يَدِهَا الصَّدَقَةُ، وَكَانَتْ أَسْرَعَنَا لُحُوقًا بِهِ وَكَانَتْ تُحِبُّ الصَّدَقَةَ‏
“Some of the wives of the Prophet (ﷺ) asked him, “Who amongst us will be the first to follow you (i.e. die after you)?”
He said, “Whoever has the longest hand.”
So they started measuring their hands with a stick and Sauda’s hand turned out to be the longest.
(BUT Zainab bint Jahsh died first of all in the caliphate of `Umar), so we came to know that the long hand was a symbol of practicing charity, so she was the first to follow the Prophet (ﷺ) and she used to love to practice charity.”

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2- Imaam Bukhari narrated in his ‘Sahih’ (4119):

عَنِ ابْنِ عُمَرَ ـ رضى الله عنهما ـ قَالَ قَالَ النَّبِيُّ صلى الله عليه وسلم يَوْمَ الأَحْزَابِ ‏ “‏ لاَ يُصَلِّيَنَّ أَحَدٌ الْعَصْرَ إِلاَّ فِي بَنِي قُرَيْظَةَ ‏”‏‏.‏ فَأَدْرَكَ بَعْضُهُمُ الْعَصْرَ فِي الطَّرِيقِ، فَقَالَ بَعْضُهُمْ لاَ نُصَلِّي حَتَّى نَأْتِيَهَا‏.‏ وَقَالَ بَعْضُهُمْ بَلْ نُصَلِّي، لَمْ يُرِدْ مِنَّا ذَلِكَ، فَذُكِرَ ذَلِكَ لِلنَّبِيِّ صلى الله عليه وسلم فَلَمْ يُعَنِّفْ وَاحِدًا مِنْهُمْ‏.‏
On the day of Al-Ahzab (i.e. Clans) the Prophet (ﷺ) said, “None of you Muslims) should offer the `Asr prayer but at Banu Quraiza’s place.”
The `Asr prayer became due (and the time for ‘Asr was running out).
Some companions (took the command litterally) and said, “We will not offer it till we reach it, the place of Banu Quraiza,”
While some others (looked at the meaning of his command) said, “No, we will pray at this spot, for the Prophet (ﷺ) did not mean that for us.” (i.e. the Prophet meant : hurry up).
Later on It was mentioned to the Prophet (ﷺ) and he did not rebuke any of the two groups.”