Guide to the waiting period for a missing person

Question:
He says: Honorable Shaykh, may Allah grant you success, is there evidence for the period you mentioned, which is a waiting period of ninety years for one whose safety is more likely, and four years for one whose death is more likely? Is there evidence for this?

Answer:
My brother, this is independent legal reasoning (ijtihad); there is no evidence. If there were evidence, we would have finished with it. But this is ijtihad based on reports (athar) from 'Umar ibn al-Khattab and others, or it is a matter of ijtihad and caution. It is not the case that everything must have evidence explicitly stated in the Sunnah or the Qur'an. Here there are ijtihads, here there are analogies (qiyas), and here there are athar that are used as evidence. You see that evidence is broader than you think; it is not necessary that there be a text from the Book and the Sunnah. There are other proofs, such as qiyas, which is valid evidence, such as the statement of a Companion. That is, there are many proofs. You have taken one side and left many sides. Yes.