The Difference Between Qayafah, Tracking a Trail, and Considering It in Rulings
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question:
Honorable Shaykh, what is the difference between what is called qayafah or tracking a trail, and what is the ruling on one who relies on the statement of some of the early scholars, such as in the case of theft?
Answer:
Knowing a trail is a type of qayafah. Qayafah is general; it includes knowing resemblance and it includes knowing a trail. It is not adopted as a basis for a Sharia ruling, but it is considered among the circumstantial evidence. It is considered among the circumstantial evidence only; no Sharia ruling is derived from it. That means, the hand of the thief is not cut off, or [it is not done] because of the information provided by the qayif that this is his trail or that this is it. This is merely circumstantial evidence.
Honorable Shaykh, what is the difference between what is called qayafah or tracking a trail, and what is the ruling on one who relies on the statement of some of the early scholars, such as in the case of theft?
Answer:
Knowing a trail is a type of qayafah. Qayafah is general; it includes knowing resemblance and it includes knowing a trail. It is not adopted as a basis for a Sharia ruling, but it is considered among the circumstantial evidence. It is considered among the circumstantial evidence only; no Sharia ruling is derived from it. That means, the hand of the thief is not cut off, or [it is not done] because of the information provided by the qayif that this is his trail or that this is it. This is merely circumstantial evidence.
Source
شرح قرة عيون الموحدين في تحقيق دعوة الأنبياء والمرسلين، باب ما جاء في الكهان ونحوهم — islamhouse.com (1:11:18)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.