The disagreement of contemporary scholars with the consensus of previous eras
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner:
Honorable Shaykh, may Allah grant you success. Is it permissible for the scholars of the present era to disagree with the consensus of previous eras, especially the consensus of the preferred centuries? And if the answer is no, then the meaning of this is that the consensus which is directed
The Shaykh:
to what is not in it except.
The questioner:
Yes, yes.
The Shaykh:
Yes, indeed. Where there is a previous consensus, it is not permissible to break it; rather, it is obligatory to cite it as evidence. As for issues in which there was no previous consensus, the scholars of the present era may exercise independent legal reasoning (ijtihad) in them. If they agree, it is said, "The scholars of the present era have reached a consensus on such and such," in matters where no consensus preceded them. The issues in which no consensus preceded them, new and emerging issues, they exercise independent legal reasoning in them. If the scholars of the Muslims in the various regions agree on a ruling, it becomes a consensus in that specific issue. Yes.
Honorable Shaykh, may Allah grant you success. Is it permissible for the scholars of the present era to disagree with the consensus of previous eras, especially the consensus of the preferred centuries? And if the answer is no, then the meaning of this is that the consensus which is directed
The Shaykh:
to what is not in it except.
The questioner:
Yes, yes.
The Shaykh:
Yes, indeed. Where there is a previous consensus, it is not permissible to break it; rather, it is obligatory to cite it as evidence. As for issues in which there was no previous consensus, the scholars of the present era may exercise independent legal reasoning (ijtihad) in them. If they agree, it is said, "The scholars of the present era have reached a consensus on such and such," in matters where no consensus preceded them. The issues in which no consensus preceded them, new and emerging issues, they exercise independent legal reasoning in them. If the scholars of the Muslims in the various regions agree on a ruling, it becomes a consensus in that specific issue. Yes.
Source
قناة «العلامة الدكتور صالح الفوزان»، 34 من 36/شرح العقيدة الواسطية (مع الأسئلة)/سبيل السابقين الأولين/صالح الفوزان/العقيدة/كبار العلماء — youtube.com (1:09:35)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.